Curse You and Your Dinner
by highheelsandchocolate
Summary: Absorbing an evil curse into your bloodstream has a few side effects that no one was expecting, least of all Regina. Set immediately after episode 2X9 "Queen of Hearts". Swan-Queen.
1. The Tip of the Iceberg

**Chapter 1: The Tip of the Iceberg**

The pain in her heart just wouldn't go away.

Regina marched herself down Storybrooke's main street at a clipped pace, her arms wrapped protectively around her waist in a vain attempt to hold herself together. She'd thought that it wouldn't be possible for her heart to break any more than it had in the past; she had already suffered so much. But she was wrong.

Her heart sagged under the weight of her crushed expectations and she was briefly tempted to rip it from her own chest, if only to rid herself of its needy bulk and make this whole ordeal a little more bearable.

Regina had done exactly what Henry had asked her to do: she'd believed in him. She had put aside her own personal grievances and concerns for her own wellbeing and martyred herself to a rather painful cause. But even when she had finally done the right thing, the noble thing… the _good_ thing… she was still treated exactly the same. Pushed aside when her unique skill-set was no longer required.

Seeing Emma climb out of the portal had sent a confusing myriad of emotions flying through her; if she was being honest with herself she had actually missed the infuriating sheriff during her unplanned stint in the Enchanted Forest and Regina found that she had genuinely meant it when she told the blonde 'welcome back'. That did not however erase the sharp pinch her heart had endured at the sight of Emma clutching her son in a smothering embrace. Henry should have been thanking his real mother for ingesting a curse on his behalf.

Regina sniffed lightly in the cooling evening air. Her nose was starting to run.

Emma hadn't blamed her for ruining her life, hadn't accused her of being bad for Henry, hadn't said a single antagonizing thing to her since she got back. In fact, the blonde had thanked her as soon as she'd stopped cradling Henry's head to her chest and made a light remark about her mother being a bitch. It had made Regina's heart smile a little at the time.

It's what Emma hadn't said that set her teeth on edge.

Regina didn't expect to be redeemed in a day, but she did expect to be rewarded for progress, and saving their collective asses from a death curse suspended over a portal was one hell of a step in the right direction.

The spit caught in her throat as she tried to swallow down the angry bile that kept creeping up from her esophagus and her fists clenched until her fingernails were leaving white indentations in her palms.

Forming the words 'why don't you join us for dinner, Regina?' should not have been hard. Even a simple 'you coming?' would have sufficed. Hell, she'd have even settled for a head tilt aimed in her direction.

As it was, Gold's painfully truthful words echoed harshly in her ears as her high heels continued to clack against the sidewalk. _"Congratulations. You just reunited mother and son. Maybe one day they'll even invite you to dinner.__"_ After all she'd done for him; she couldn't help but feel Henry's betrayal stinging sharply deep within her chest.

She had abstained from magic at his request. She had kept a constant vigil by his side while fiery nightmares swept him away at night. She had spent every waking moment he allowed her to be near him in his presence. And when she wasn't with him, she was coming up with ways to prove her worth to him. She had even saved his birth mother when he had begged her to.

She'd hoped that this would be enough. That he would see how hard she was trying. But it's difficult to be good when everyone was just waiting for you to slip up, biding their time and looking for cracks in your façade, waiting on baited breath and daring you to flinch so the blame can land squarely on your shoulders once again.

Hope was a dangerous thing. It was something Regina feared she had always had too much of. It made it all the more painful to lose.

She had hoped for Emma.

The ridiculous blonde had a kind heart and she was constantly coming to Regina's rescue, whether Regina felt she deserved it or not. The sheriff had saved her from a fire, rescued her when Gold had tied her up (immediately after slaying a dragon on her first try mind you), stopped an angry mob from killing her, and finally shoved her out of the way of a wraith hell-bent on digesting her soul.

Sure they fought like starving cats around a dumpster most of the time, but before Emma had gone and unwittingly hurled herself into a portal, Regina had noticed the sheriff going out of her way to bother her as of late. It made her feel important to think that someone thought she was worthy of bothering. She liked to pretend that it wasn't just because she was the adoptive mother of Emma's son, but that on some level the blonde found her fascinating as well.

They had made magic together… and where she was from that meant something. When Emma had touched her in the gallery, magic had swelled within her like a tempest and spilled from Regina's fingers like it was the most effortless thing on the planet. It had been calming and invigorating simultaneously, bonding them inexplicably to each other, and the overwhelming sense of rightness that had engulfed her in the moment, had later on left Regina feeling mildly unsettled.

She had been filled with magic in a world where it wasn't supposed to exist. Emma's touch was literally otherworldly, in the most poignant sense of the word, and Regina still hadn't quite come to terms with it yet. She wasn't sure if she even could. So much was wrapped up in that blonde enigma that she was almost afraid to scratch the surface.

In the sheriff's absence she had time to dwell, to fabricate, to misconstrue, and now she wasn't sure of anything. She had grown to miss Emma, only to bring her back and have her steal her beloved Henry away from her.

And then after Daniel… she stopped walking for a second as grief invaded her system again. She crumpled momentarily as she clutched at her gut, panting as she revisited the devastating loss of her first love. _Daniel._ He wanted her to love again. But how could she? How could she love anyone when no one would love her back?

In her sorrow she didn't notice the faint tendril of green ether beginning to hover around her like a fog.

The grief hurt too much. It felt as if her heart had already broken into a thousand pieces and now someone was tromping all over the shards in order to crush them into a fine dust. Mask it with anger. Anger was fuel. Anger was productive.

Regina's jaw clenched. She had sucked up a curse for those ungrateful _heroes_. The word burned on her tongue and her skin glowed a little. _Ungrateful peasants the lot of them._

Regina was in a considerable amount of pain, and not just emotional pain if she really thought about it… which she didn't. Instead of stopping to consider the possible ramifications of such a thing she merely trudged forward, fueled by her desperate need to just get home, and adamantly refused to acknowledge any physical limitations on her part. Never mind that her body was nagging at her; odd aches twitched through her cold limbs and a dull throb had started to pulse just behind her eyes. _Just what I need… a headache from all of this blasted crying._ It was best just to ignore the sufferable pangs all-together.

Unwanted tears leaked from her eyes as she tried to stifle a breathy whimper. She had refused to let them spill out in front of Gold, but alone on this empty street she had no one to hide from. The whole town seemed to be celebrating the Savior's return at Granny's diner together.

At the thought of Henry laughing with people he found more appealing and more innately, intrinsically _good_ than her, her stomach dropped even lower into her pelvis. Was it really worth it to change for the people you love? Especially when they are so obviously happy without you?

"Stop it, Regina," she chastised, her voice sounding oddly like her own mother's inside her head. "Some Evil Queen you've turned out to be. Just look how far you've fallen. Now you're nothing but a mother without a son."

It was probably a good thing she hadn't been invited to dinner, Regina moped morbidly. She wouldn't have been hungry anyway.

What she needed was a stiff drink. Vodka. Lots and lots of vodka. Maybe that would get rid of this irritating chill in the air that insisted on seeping through her peacoat. She tugged the jacket tighter around her slim form and failed to heed the warning crackle of a green spark sailing through the air around her fingertips.

Her perfect little boy. Her perfect little piece of Emma that she had loved with all of her miserable heart for the past ten years was now back with his biological mother, surrounded by (and now knowingly blood-related to) all of the heroes in the fairytales she used to read to him every night before he went to bed. The irony hurt just as much as her weeping heart.

She tried to cling to the memory of his tiny arms around her waist. Her little sliver of happiness. He hadn't hugged her like that since… well since Emma. And in that moment she had been whole again. Overwhelmingly and intoxicatingly whole.

But then suddenly he was gone… he was leaving… his hand slipping out of hers… the void in her heart ripping open anew as he muttered 'I'll see you around' as nonchalantly as if he didn't know how much she cared about him. The moment replayed relentlessly in her head over and over despite her constant efforts not to think about it.

The hair on her arms stood on end as the crushing cold plagued her skin, squeezing at her ribcage until she almost couldn't breathe.

Trying unsuccessfully to clear her head of the cruel sound his words had left in her ears, images from the past hour whipped through her mind: blurred, hazy and disjointed, full of faces she didn't like and words that were never spoken, until her heart unfortunately settled on the memory that hurt the most.

Henry had called Emma 'Mom'.

A choked sob clawed its way out of her windpipe as she reached her front porch. Her toe caught the edge of the step up to her door and she stumbled slightly, crashing her shoulder ungainly into one of the supporting pillars of her house.

Through her grief-stricken mind, Regina finally realized that something was off. She had thought that the crying and the night air were responsible for throwing her equilibrium askew and had previously not given it a second thought. Regina was always a picture of poise and elegance, no matter how terrifying her demeanor. But now she was sure that her body was not right; the Evil Queen never tripped.

Her skull was pounding, light-headed and swishy, and all-at-once her knees felt like they wouldn't be able to support her weight anymore. She clung to the pillar for support and it was only when she dropped her keys that she noticed her hands were shaking with a vicious tremor, quivering dangerously like the last autumn leaf on a winter branch. They were trembling so hard that through her bleary eyes she almost didn't notice the eerie green light that had begun to shine mutely beneath her skin.

Regina panicked as the light began to burn brighter and colder by the minute._ Damn, whatever that stuff was, it hurt like hell._ Glowing luminous in the darkening evening like some kind of poisonous toxic waste, Regina gritted her teeth against the sudden pain as she tried not to double-over, pressing her abruptly numb hands into her stomach and starting at just how cold they were. Her skin was as cold as death.

The green distortion was rushing wildly through her veins, licking up her stomach and knotting her heart until neon sparks spun out of her flesh like spider-webs and went popping violently off into the air. She gasped for breath as her chest constricted, shriveling her lungs as her sorrow finally consumed her and wholly submerged the dethroned mayor into her self-made pity party.

_She was going to die here alone, in her own private little firework show, and no one would even mourn her absence in the morning._

This final thought sent her heart lurching in her chest as if she had been scalded with a poker from the fire, so hot it burned white and cold. Regina's eyes rolled into the back of her head at the searing stab of loneliness now radiating throughout her entire body, the sudden rush of pain and icy numbness making her extremely dizzy. The world spun around her, blurring into ominous shadows, fleeting heartbeats and harsh laughter that she couldn't be sure was real or not.

The last thing Regina saw was the cement of her porch speeding towards her face before her world went completely black.


	2. The Feeling You've Forgotten Something

**Chapter 2: That Nagging Feeling You've Forgotten Something**

Regina wasn't at dinner.

At first Emma hadn't noticed. She hadn't really given the mayor much of a second thought to be honest; she was just relieved to finally be back home… with indoor plumbing. To say that Emma had been overwhelmed by her time in the Enchanted Forest would have been the understatement of the century.

But now that the evening had begun to wane and her stomach was near to busting with wonderfully processed foods, Regina's presence had become noticeably absent.

Emma found herself missing weird things about the uptight brunette in question. She missed watching Regina's elegant fingers curl protectively over Henry's shoulder in a show of righteous ownership. She missed the judging smirk that twitched up the corner of her lips whenever Emma announced something blatantly obvious to everyone else in the vicinity. She missed her body-hugging suits and her power-hungry high heels and that damned red lipstick of hers.

She especially missed the evil glint in her eye when Emma could tell she was up to something dastardly. It was infuriating as much as it was exciting; knowing that an all-out brawl could break out any minute if she made just the right remark at the most inopportune time. The danger was tantalizing and she knew Regina could follow through… that woman could pack a punch. Emma caught herself smiling at the memory.

The realization hit her like a derailed train: she had actually missed Regina Mills.

Emma had known for a while that she didn't outright hate the mayor anymore, but to actually go so far as to miss her? _And_ to wish that she was at dinner with them? Well… it was just unexpected.

Storybrooke's sheriff half-heartedly pushed the remnants of her fifth pancake around her plate. In celebration of their return, the entire party had all had breakfast for dinner. _Henry's favorite._ Her gut churned in an unsettling way and momentarily threatened to expel the newly attained contents of her stomach back onto her plate. Regina deserved to be here, no matter how much everyone else seemed to hate her.

Suddenly Snow's pale hand was rubbing soothing circles into the small of her back in a mothering fashion that Emma wasn't sure she'd ever get used to.

"What's wrong, Emma?" Snow asked protectively.

Henry's head snapped up at the sound of Snow's concerned voice and shot Emma a questioning look from across the table.

"Nothing. Just tired, I guess." Emma shrugged unconvincingly.

Henry's eyebrows pinched together and his lips formed into a thin line as he scrutinized her lack-luster response; an expression he had most certainly picked up from his adoptive mother. Emma's heart did a little involuntary flutter at the thought. He really was both of their sons, wasn't he?

Henry was still studying her quizzically. Snow also appeared equally skeptical.

"Really guys, I'm fine. I'm allowed to zone out a little, y'know? I did just get back from battling an evil sorceress for a magic compass," she added playfully, throwing one of her best lopsided grins in Henry's direction.

It worked. They both smiled and went back to their previous conversations as Emma's thoughts slipped back into Fairytale Land.

All of the stories in Henry's book came down to one thing in the end: good vs evil… and fortunately for her, Henry had informed Emma that she was on the side of good and it always won. So she should be relieved… but Emma just couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something was wrong about the whole subject.

_Good_. The friends and neighbors joking boisterously around her were apparently good. But what higher power actually chose who was good and who was not? Maybe it was just the foster-care talking, but the whole good and evil thing seemed a whole lot like a personal opinion to her.

Ruby had killed hundreds of people when she was a wolf. Sure, she hadn't meant to do any harm by it and sure, you could blame the insatiable blood-lust on her inner beast… but the truth still remained. Ruby was a murderer. And she was good.

Archie was Storybrooke's collective conscience and resident therapist, and had nothing but nice things to say about everyone. But hadn't he sat by for years and said nothing as his parents scammed family after family after family out of their life-savings in the Enchanted Forest? Sure, turning that one couple into puppets had been a mistake and sure, he had tried to fill the hole in the boy's life with friendship… but the truth still remained. Failing to act made you just as guilty as if you had done the deed yourself. And yet, he was good.

And Snow. Her mother, the perfect and angelic Snow White, had broken the one most important promise she was ever entrusted with. She had revealed Regina's secret true love to her mother after she had sworn to keep her lips sealed, and because of that act of betrayal Cora had destroyed Daniel, causing Regina to spiral out of control and become the curse-hurling woman she was today. Sure, Snow had been young and naïve at the time and sure, she had had the best intentions at heart… but the truth still remained. Snow had gone back on her word. And she was still good.

And then there was Regina. She had started off good and now… well, Emma wasn't really sure what to think. Sure, the mayor had done some pretty nasty things to a lot of undeserving people, but she had done them out of anguish, out of that dark place that craved revenge and retribution for past wrong-doings. Emma could understand that feeling; that desperate need to even the playing field when it felt as if the cards were always stacked out-of-favor. And she was the fucking Savior for god sakes.

Regina wasn't evil.

But her mother was a completely different story. _Cora_ was definitely evil.

Emma flinched at the unnerving memory and covertly pushed her hand against her chest to feel the rhythmic beating underneath her sternum for reassurance. Having a psychopath's icy fingers clenched around your life-force was nowhere near a pleasant sensation, especially when the person in question was violently trying to yank it from your chest.

Hadn't she done that to Regina's love once? That snake-eyed woman had ripped his heart out in front of her and crushed it into dust… Emma remembered reading that story and shivered in horror as she suddenly understood a little of where Regina was coming from; a small bit of indignant sadness churning her insides on the mayor's behalf. What was that saying? _Evil is made, not born._

Regina had hope once. Snow had squashed it.

Regina had love once. Cora had killed it.

Regina had a son once. And Emma had taken him from her.

Emma pushed her plate away and rubbed the syrup from her face on the back of her hand. She loved Henry dearly, but so did Regina. How had she forgotten to invite her? Hadn't Henry said that Regina was the one who had brought them back through the portal? It was all kind of a blur now.

Henry must have embellished the tale in the way that all 10-year-olds do, right? Making it more gruesome and horrific than it actually was. Emma hoped so because the way he had described his mom sucking up that green curse had sounded absolutely terrifying.

Regina was probably a lot more dispirited than she was letting on, if her recent encounter with the wraith was anything to base her reaction off of. At the time, seeing the mayor so shaken had been odd. Regina was the master of hiding her emotions; she was so good at it in fact, that most people believed she didn't have any. But Emma had a gift for reading people, for sussing out their quirks and tells and using it to her advantage. She had been learning to pick up on Regina's subtleties before she left and discovered the brunette to be disarmingly human, despite her light-switch temper.

Emma had told Regina that she had protected her because Henry asked her to… which was partly true. But she had been saving Regina for a while now, and she found that the more she did it, the more it felt like the right thing to do.

Emma didn't feel like the Savior, no matter how many times people swore that she was or Henry insisted that believing you weren't a hero was only a problem that true heroes faced. Emma still wasn't sold on that point, but she could say, with absolute clarity, that whenever she saved Regina, whether the brunette was thankful afterwards or not, the experience was rewarding.

It was the only time when she really felt like a hero.

Regina was exhilarating. And when she wasn't around… well… Storybrooke was actually kind of boring. The spiteful mayor was the only solidifying force that kept the rest of town from turning on each other and focusing on their own petty grievances. Every community needed a scapegoat and from what Emma had been told about the Evil Queen, it seemed they could have done a lot worse than a leather-clad temptress with an affinity for poisonous fruit.

Emma hummed as the image of Regina in a leather corset flitted through her mind like a subliminal blip on a TV screen. More than a little bit of her was curious to see this other side of Regina. Maybe a little bit of evil was just what her soul needed.


	3. A Good Time to be the Savior

**Chapter 3: A Good Time to be the Savior**

The hodgepodge group of fairytale characters paraded themselves down the middle of Main Street in a raucous display of merriment. Dwarves were shouting inappropriate jokes to one another as the royal Charmings dreamily linked their arms together and Ruby bounded about the crowd like an overgrown puppy in the growing twilight.

If it had been any other night they would have all worried about someone calling in a noise complaint and having them arrested for disturbing the peace, given the late hour that they had left the diner. But as it was, they had the resident sheriff partying alongside them and were too high on the adrenaline rush of friends being back to be concerned about their growing volume level.

Emma had her arm slung carelessly around Henry's shoulders and they were walking in tandem, smiles blown wide across their faces and deep into a discussion about his new favorite comic book.

_It was good to be back._

As they made their way towards their separate apartments, the group passed by the mayoral mansion and out of habit, Emma cast a curious glance down the mayor's elegantly manicured path. Spying on Regina's whereabouts was something she had done countless times before.

But the whole structure was strangely cast in shadow. Emma slowed her pace a little as she peered into the darkness. It wasn't like Regina to leave the outside lights unlit. She usually left at least half of her house lights on so that the mansion shone like a beacon of judgment and wealth all through the night, her constant presence looming over the sleepy little town in an endless display of power.

Emma's forehead furrowed in confusion and she stopped walking all-together as she squinted into the black.

There was huddled mass lying on the doorstep of the mansion.

And suddenly her body was moving in some sped-up version of autopilot as she untangled her arm from Henry and her feet directed her towards the mayor's house; her legs beginning to run without her telling them to.

"Hey Ems! Where're you going?" Ruby called out.

Emma didn't respond; just quickened her pace as she dashed faster across the street. Something was definitely not right.

The sheriff felt the color drain from her face. "Regina?"

She tried to swallow around the knot in her throat as she recognized the prone form spewed across the porch. Her heart beat too fast in her chest and the blood pounded in her ears, all of her instincts screaming at her to hurry up as she nearly jumped the iron gate in her haste. Emma raced to where the mayor lay and sank immediately to her knees beside the figure. The blonde placed a hand on Regina's arm but none of the mayor's usual warmth graced her fingertips; Regina was as cold as new-fallen snow. It scared her.

Rolling the brunette onto her back, Emma caught Regina's head in her hands as it fell to the side. A vacant face stared back: eyes closed peacefully as if she was asleep, all of the usual scowl marks and creased laugh lines erased from her face in its unnaturally relaxed state. She looked stunningly innocent like this and it made Emma's heart clench painfully in her chest.

"Regina?" Emma asked again, her voice rising a little in panic.

The sheriff pressed her ear into the mayor's chest. No pulse. No heartbeat. She leaned back; Regina was as still as a corpse.

Emma's short-circuiting brain told her that if she said the woman's name louder she might actually respond, "Regina!"

Emma lifted her up slightly and shook the mayor by the shoulders. Nothing. She was heavier than she should have been.

"Regina, come on. Don't do this."

The brunette hung limply in the sheriff's hands as lifeless as a rag doll, her head lulling back on her shoulders in a decidedly frightening way.

"No, no, no. Don't do this to me. You've gotta come back now," Emma breathed, her heart nearly beating out of her chest in anxiety. She was trying very hard not to hyperventilate and was only half-succeeding.

Snow was the first one that caught up with her. "Emma, what's going on?" she asked as she leaned forward placing her hands on her knees, slightly winded by her jaunt across the lawn.

"She's not breathing."

Laying Regina back on the ground, Emma quickly straddled the brunette, sitting firmly on her hips with her knees touching the ground on either side of the mayor. Taking a quick moment to shove her unruly curls out of her face, Emma began to pulse her hands over Regina's chest in calculated CPR movements. She'd promised Henry that she wouldn't let his mom die. And now just look at her.

_She had to fix this._

The small crowd she had been traveling with had clustered around the hedge surrounding the yard, with some of them actually daring to venture all the way into the closed estate as they tried to see what was going on. It vaguely reminded Emma of the mob that had formed there not too long ago when the curse had first broken; except for this horde was gossipy and murmuring to each other, all aching to watch the mayor's demise but at the same time not wanting to get too close to the Evil Queen.

Some of them looked slightly triumphant; mildly pleased with themselves that the mayor had finally gotten what she deserved. Others just seemed taken aback at the sight of the Evil Queen sprawled across the ground in such an uncharacteristic manner. But all of them looked confused as to the source of the sheriff's agitation. Emma was the last person anyone expected to have nice feelings toward Regina and now here she was, unwaveringly resolved to not let the woman die.

But Emma didn't care. As she glanced up at the surrounding throng of gawkers she searched until she found the one pair of eyes that mattered. She locked onto Henry's gaze through the crowd of legs and torsos and she could see the terror in his eyes. The poor kid was petrified.

"Ruby, take Henry back to the diner," Emma ground out through her gritted teeth, never ceasing her pumping of the mayor's chest. Her voice was low and commanding, and she almost didn't recognize the sound as it came out of her mouth. So when neither Henry nor Ruby moved a muscle and just continued to stand there frozen and slack-jawed, she didn't hesitate to bark out a loud, "Now!"

Ruby turned tail and ran with Henry in tow.

Emma pounded roughly on the mayor's chest and then bent her head to catch her lips on Regina's. _Breathe_. Emma blew her own air into Regina's mouth only to have it come swirling back at her. Emma tried again. Same result.

As Emma pushed on the mayor's chest again and again she leaned down and whispered softly into Regina's ear, muttered it so quietly that no one else could hear her. "Come on, Madam Mayor. Don't give up on me yet."

Emma fell into the trance of the movement. _Pulse one, two, three… all the way up to thirty. Bend. Breathe for Regina. Repeat._ Seconds stretched into minutes with still no change, but time meant nothing to Emma anymore. The world quieted around her until it was only her and the mayor; Emma offering Regina her breath and Regina not returning it. She didn't know how long the others had watched her beating on the brunette's chest before Snow's uneasy but gentle voice broke through her fixated daze.

"Emma, I don't think she's coming back."

Emma's brow creased and she re-doubled her efforts.

"Emma…"

"She's not dying!" Emma spat back. Her eyes were wide with fear but determined none-the-less.

Emma whipped her face back to the inert brunette beneath her. This wasn't working. Emma was almost at her wits end and her stomach churned at the thought of her imminent failure.

Every life-saving technique, anecdote, and useless factoid she had ever heard flew through her mind at breakneck speed: _avoiding eye contact with a bear, staring down a cougar, curling up into the fetal position, the Heimlich maneuver, unlocking your knees, holding your breath, breathing through your nose, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, true love's kiss, apply pressure if bleeding, scaring a hiccup off with a surprise, migraines, drowning, hanging, poison, blood-loss, seizures, stinging nettles, salves, pills, medication, meditation, prayer…_

And then something clicked for a second. Poison. If someone was bitten by a snake in the wilderness you were supposed to suck the venom out of the wound. Emma took in the slightly unnatural hue of Regina's skin that she hadn't had time to notice before and when she focused hard enough she swore that she could make out a pale green light pulsing just underneath the membrane of Regina's neck and the top of her chest. It was worth a shot. If Regina had absorbed this curse like Henry said, maybe it needed to be sucked out like a snakebite.

With new-found determination, Emma lowered her lips once more to Regina's and instead of blowing in like before, she latched her mouth forcefully onto the brunette's and sucked hard, inhaling with all of her lung capacity and completely overtaking the mayor's lips in an otherwise very intimate embrace.

Regina's eyes flew open.


	4. Quaking in Your Skin

**Chapter 4: Quaking in Your Skin**

Regina was immediately aware of three things:

First, it felt as if she was being forced to regurgitate shards of ice through her already tight and scratchy throat.

Second, the weight of another body pressing down on her pelvis was keeping her from moving.

And lastly, someone was kissing her… rather enthusiastically.

As Regina's hazy mind fought to understand what was happening to her, the hands on either side of her face pressed in tighter to clutch onto her jawbone, and all of a sudden the mayor's cheeks were engulfed in a strange warmth: the fingertips set against her skin were radiating heat, thawing the dead nerve-endings and bringing life back into her frozen flesh.

The smooth lips smashed against her own increased their pressure and Regina struggled as bits of the curse clawed its way up her throat, burning her with its arctic heat until she finally felt herself release the smoke in a bone-rattling gasp that would have made the grim reaper proud.

At the grating sound emanating from her own vocal chords, Regina's eyes flew open and immediately locked onto the heated gaze scant inches in front of her, which turned out to be coming from none other than the Savior herself. Only her eyes were blazing with an abhorrent emerald glow that was so unlike the blonde's own naturally green hue.

The sheriff pulled back slightly from Regina's lips at the sound but kept her mouth open, continuously inhaling as she pulled away. The mayor watched in awed horror as a stream of green vapor escaped her own painted lips only to flood down Emma's pale throat in turn, lighting her skin in an odd glow as it descended below the neckline of the sheriff's shirt.

The curse crackled like pop rocks in Emma's mouth for a moment, sparking little jolts against her teeth, before the electrified fog slid past her larynx with the consistency of a cold slushie to settle itself deep within her chest.

There the dark magic thrummed to life inside of the sheriff as the curse attempted to overtake its new host: the cold seeped into her bones, coated her organs and circuited through her bloodstream; readying itself to reek havoc on her frame. But when its icy fingers reached for Emma's heart the curse stuttered to a halt, tingled for a moment, and then dissipated. 'Poofed' just as quickly as it had come. The faint glow on Emma's skin receded into nothingness and the heat returned to her fingers, leaving the blonde only slightly breathless and a little light-headed.

Emma shook her body like a dog for moment. _What a rush._

As the glow from her eyes faded into oblivion, Emma chanced a look at the fluttering eyelids below her. She could have cried from relief she was so happy. Regina was staring back at her: wide-eyed, panting, and gaunt as a skeleton… but unbelievably alive.

"Are you alright?" Emma asked quietly.

Blinking up at the sea-green eyes above her, Regina quickly took stock of her aching limbs. She could still feel the angry curse brewing inside of her and her body was still numbingly cold, but at least she could breathe again. A slight weight had lifted off of her chest at Emma's assistance and she could feel her lungs expanding back to their original capacity, gulping desperately for deep breaths of air, and her heart was slowly stuttering back to life within her ribcage.

She nodded meekly. The Savior had saved her… yet again.

Emma couldn't help the smile slowly spreading across her face. Regina's lips were still a little swollen from where she had sucked on them and her ruby lipstick was slightly smudged. She found the mayor to be wildly beautiful in this delicately vulnerable state and for a second the sheriff lost herself and let her fingers travel nimbly over the swollen flesh in a caress.

For a moment, neither of them moved away from the contact. And then…

"Get off of me, Ms. Swan."

_There_ was the death glare and deadpan tone she had grown to know and love. Emma suddenly remembered the crowd of voyeurs surrounding them and quickly dismounted the brunette, muttering a quiet 'sorry' she didn't mean under her breath.

As soon as Emma's weight was off of her, Regina regretted her words. Without the sheriff the warmth disappeared and the nagging ache of cold was seeping back into her joints again, immediately evaporating what little strength she had regained. A faint green glow still haunted the tips of her fingers and her arms trembled viciously in the effort to push herself off of the ground. Her body felt drained in every sense of the word and the thought of trying to stand by herself suddenly seemed massively overwhelming.

And Emma was hovering again. "Can you stand, Madam Mayor?"

Regina shot her a warning look that blatantly refused her aid. "I'm not the mayor anymore, Ms. Swan," she spat with as much disdain as she could muster. "Your charming father saw away with that the minute you two left Storybrooke."

Emma backed off and let the volatile woman get up herself, watching her press the imaginary wrinkles out of her peacoat in the process. The last thing Emma wanted to do was rub salt in a new wound; Regina deserved to keep her dignity intact.

"Well you're still my mayor," Emma mumbled softly. The idea of her parents being royalty hadn't really sunk in yet and the thought of taking orders from them made Emma immediately bulk against their authority. She had only just started to get used to Regina bossing her around…

The mayor let a ghost of a smile flit over her lips for a second. The princess was rebelling against her parents already. How rewarding.

At the mention of the Charmings however, Regina finally tore her gaze away from her own appearance to acknowledge the strange ensemble that had gathered on her lawn.

"What on earth are all of these dwarves doing here?"

The burst of laughter swallowed into a coughing fit that erupted from her left caught her slightly off-guard. Emma must have spotted the irony as well.

The scene was eerily reminiscent of Snow White's reawakening within her glass coffin, and Regina felt a trickle of horror shiver down her spine at the comparison. The annoyance herself was standing just a little ways off of the porch with the prince, her ever-present bodyguard, beside her. Regina barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes at their indignant faces.

A deep-seated arrogance crept back into Regina's shoulders as she regally rose up to her full height; complete with her chin tilted upward in a gesture of haughty defiance and a sneer crawling across her lips. Derision flashed in her eyes as her insides began churning anew with rekindled contempt for her step-daughter. They had no right to be here.

The Evil Queen was back, and she was angry.

"What are you all staring at?" she hissed at the crowd. A few of them backed away from her and Mary Margaret winced. Regina zeroed in on her prey like a hawk; the ambient glow from her fingertips burning a little bit brighter.

"Oh… my dear Snow," Regina crooned, "do I still frighten you?" She took a menacing step forward only to be stopped by Leroy speaking out-of-turn.

"We're not afraid of you, you old witch!" Leroy shouted.

Regina's head snapped in his direction. "That was a very stupid thing to say, little dwarf."

Her voice was dangerously deep and throaty, and it rolled over Emma's senses like molasses. It was as intoxicating as it was terrifying, but Emma couldn't help but notice that the longer Regina stood there, the more it seemed the woman was producing smoke. Green vapor radiated off of her skin in a light mist and clung to her form, coating the surrounding porch in a wispy haze.

_She couldn't be the only one that thought this wasn't a good omen._

But like all dwarves do, Leroy stubbornly ignored the glaring signs to stop antagonizing the enraged enchantress in front of him and pushed forward with his loyal tirade.

"We don't owe you anything!"

Regina growled, "How dare you speak ill of your Queen."

Leroy looked pointedly at Snow White, "We have a new Queen to follow now. We don't need you."

Emma could have sworn she actually saw Regina's skin bristle. As it was, the hair on her own arms stood on end at the sudden electrical charge in the air that had been sent hurtling toward the loud-mouthed dwarf.

Everyone ducked. Dwarves cowered near the black iron gate and David shielded Mary Margaret with his body as a shower of green sparks cascaded through the air and rained down on them like stray ashes of too-close fireworks.

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Regina seethed. Her fists clenched tight as sparks rolled over her skin where the curse burned deep within her; a shocking neon green.

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! ALL OF YOU!" she bellowed. The haze around her crackled like an electrical storm as fairytale creatures scattered into the night, sprinting away from the mansion with as much courage as ants before completely disappearing into the black.

Amid the chaos of fleeing Storybrooke residents, Emma almost missed Regina's slumping shoulders in the middle of the cloud.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Emma caught the Queen just as her knees started to buckle.

Emma immediately felt a surge of power course through her hands where she had come into contact with Regina's icy flesh. Like a zap from a static carpet, the current stole into her fingertips and vanished under her skin, cooling the surface for only a second before disappearing completely.

The air calmed as the nasty electrical cloud started to dissipate and the mayor began shivering violently in Emma's arms.

"Let's get you inside."

The corners of Regina's haunted eyes tightened with the wariness of an herbivore in a den of lions: like she couldn't wrap her head around the idea that anyone would ever want to help someone like herself. Regina obviously didn't trust the blonde's intentions and Emma sighed.

"Look. They're not on your lawn anymore. And the scary green cloud is almost gone. So let's not give anyone anything else to talk about tonight, okay?" Emma quirked an eyebrow, "You can blow up the town tomorrow."

Emma knew her ill-conceived attempt at humor had worked when Regina's defensive shoulders deflated a little and she, ever-so-slightly, felt the brunette lean more of her weight into the embrace.

"Will you let me help you inside?" the sheriff asked tentatively.

One curt nod later and Emma had hooked an arm around the mayor's waist; the brunette clutching her outstretched hand for additional support.

Regina had to resist the urge to sigh out-loud at the contact; Emma's body was warm against her agonizingly frosty exterior and the heat was a welcome reprieve, no matter how short-lived it might be. The ever-present pain subsided momentarily as she unconsciously pressed closer into Emma.

For one glorious moment, she felt safe.

And so it was that the Evil Queen allowed herself to be ushered inside her own home by Storybrooke's personal Savior.


	5. When Charming Guests are Uninvited

**Chapter 5: When Charming Guests are Uninvited**

As soon as the pair of women was past the threshold of the mansion, Regina wiggled stubbornly out of Emma's grasp, almost pushing her forcefully away. But Emma didn't miss the wince of pain that flashed across the mayor's face that accompanied their parting.

The dull green tint was back in Regina's fingertips and the brunette was bent slightly at the waist, like someone who was desperately trying to hide the fact that they had a terrible stomachache. The mayor's hand clutched hard at her peacoat as she sucked in a breath to straighten herself back up, her mask of calm indifference sliding into place just as Charming stormed through the doorway. Snow caught the door before it slammed on its hinges and closed it quietly behind her in order to keep out curious eyes.

The prince thundered across the entryway, rapidly descending on the Evil Queen until he was inches from her face, the vein in his forehead threatening to burst.

"What the hell is going on, Regina? I demand answers now!"

His intimidation tactic appeared to not have the desired effect for Regina simply stood her ground and barely blinked at his closeness, her unwaveringly composed exterior undoubtedly maddening to Emma's fuming father. The woman actually had the audacity to look mildly bored at his outburst.

"As leader of this town I have a right–!"

"A right?" Regina scoffed. "David, you have never had a right to anything in my possession, and that includes my business."

The sheriff had the vague feeling that these two had done this dance many times before, albeit nearly a lifetime ago and in a very different place. Charming looked like he wanted to punch Regina in the face.

"James, calm down. Yelling at her will get us nowhere."

Regina's voice practically dripped with condescension, "Very good, Mary Margaret. I see your regal upbringing is finally kicking in, though it has certainly taken you long enough to remember how to act in the presence of a Queen."

Snow's face hardened at the insult and Regina merely smirked, knowing she had struck a nerve. An uncomfortable tension filled the air and Emma swore that she could almost feel their combined hatred hanging over them like a blanket of lead, the silence deafening in the echoy entryway.

When Snow finally spoke again it was in a tone so controlled it almost lacked emotion, and what little emotion did leak through made her voice imperceptibly quiver with a barely restrained loathing, "Regina, we have been entrusted with the protection of this town and its inhabitants. And given the little firework display we just witnessed in your front yard, we _need _you to tell us what's going on."

"In this I, unfortunately, am in the dark, same as you," Regina replied begrudgingly. "But from what I can deduce by the amount of green fumes I seem to be producing, it would appear that this is some kind of aftereffect of the death curse I absorbed on your behalf." She pierced the schoolteacher with a look that could have thrown daggers. "No need to thank me," she added flippantly.

Snow's face instantly softened. _That woman was easier to manipulate than clay clutched inside a child's fist._ "So Henry's tale was true? Regina, I am so–"

"Don't you dare touch me, Miss Blanchard."

The gentle hand that Snow had placed on Regina's shoulder rocketed off of the mayor at the sharp shock it received, its owner momentarily stunned by the blinding flash of green light that had accompanied the movement. Snow yelped in pain and shrunk back away from the brunette, cradling her injured hand close to her chest.

Although anyone in their right mind would have expected this kind of a response from Regina, Emma didn't miss the fleeting look of surprise that glanced across the mayor's face. Regina hadn't meant to hurt her; the shock had been an accident. But the look was gone in less than a nanosecond and was once again replaced with the stony and taunting mask of the Evil Queen.

Snow's hand was singed a deep, angry jade and the woman hissed in pain when she tried to examine the scorch mark with the fingers of her other hand.

Emma narrowed her eyes at this. _Either Snow was a pansy or she was special for some reason… because when she had touched Regina nothing even remotely close to this caliber had happened to her. And she knew her mother was no wimp: she had been stuck in Fairytale Land with her for the past couple of weeks after all._

Mary Margaret's mouth gaped open like a codfish, completely aghast at Regina's behavior, as the prince instantly appeared at his wife's side to further inspect the freezing gash. Two pairs of resentment-filled eyes simultaneously shot up in the mayor's direction.

"I don't want your pity, dear," Regina snapped. "I am perfectly fine; I just need a little rest is all. Tomorrow I'll be better than new."

"And if you're not?" Charming growled.

"I will be."

Flickering pain was evident in those ridiculously rich brown eyes of hers, but Emma could tell that Regina was fighting hard not to let it show. Queens were taught never to show weakness, but the mayor's breathing was getting shallower by the minute.

Regina knew she was not well and she needed to get out of there… right now.

The mayor's dangerous mood shifted yet again and she was suddenly smiling with the plastered-on sickly-sweet graciousness of an agreeable dinner hostess. "Well. Now that that's done, I would appreciate it if you'd all take your leave of my house. I'm about to retire to my bedroom for some much deserved rest."

Regina had made it about halfway up her winding staircase, her knees barely shaking, before she realized that none of the Charmings had moved. They were all still standing there, staring at her.

She felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle as a fresh wave of ire rolled through her at their continued disobedience. All she wanted was to get upstairs so that she could crumble into a million pieces. _Why couldn't they just leave well enough alone and let her suffer in peace?_

"Surely you can find the exit by yourselves," Regina stated more forcefully. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to be alone."

Snow glanced at Charming. Ever the kind-hearted daughter of Leopold, she couldn't just let Regina go without trying to make amends.

"You know, Leroy's sentiments…"

Regina's skin crawled. "I know how to handle my subjects, Miss Blanchard. Don't go trying to protect my feelings now; it doesn't suit you."

Snow tried once more, straining valiantly to remain semi-cordial. "Are you sure you don't need anything—?"

"I said I'm fine," the mayor snarled. "Your belated concern is unnecessary. Now leave my house; I want to be alone."

Regina turned to continue ascending the staircase with a bit of her old haughty air, but Emma noticed how tightly she was gripping the banister; her white knuckles giving her away.

David turned to his wife, speaking much too loudly for it to be considered a private conversation. "I don't think it's a good idea to leave her alone. What if she unleashes something horrible on the town during the night? We could set up a perimeter; maybe put her on house arrest…"

Regina stilled on the stair; her composure slowly unraveling as if someone was pulling a loose string on a knit sweater. Emma saw the muscles in her jaw clench and the tendons in her elegant neck suddenly go rigid and become more pronounced.

And there it was again. The green smoke was back and it was filtering through the entryway like some kind of malevolent mist, its tendrils snaking down the banister to slither around the ankles of the Queen's unwanted guests.

_You'd think people would learn to stop baiting the Evil Queen… but no. _Everyone, it seemed, liked to push her buttons to the breaking point. Emma had to admit it was fun; she did love it when Regina got riled up and feisty. But that was before she knew that the mayor could blow her to kingdom come. With this new temperamental magic at play, the woman was far more deadly; instigating anything more than the usual banter or a casual insult might make someone think you had a death wish.

The Queen's temper flared. "Just because you have usurped me as leader of this town does not mean that I am going to allow you to treat me like some common prisoner! Get out of my house at once!"

Regina's eyes glowed neon green for a second and the door to 108 blew open with the force of a magic tornado. The green mist swirled around David for a moment before latching onto him like some kind of boa constrictor and yanking him unceremoniously out of the mansion as if he was attached to a bungee cord.

The man went soaring haplessly through the door and out onto the lawn, leaving nothing but a streak of dusky smoke trailing through the air behind him.

"James!" Snow shrieked. "What did you do to him?! All he did was try to help you! And to think I was starting to believe that your heart wasn't as black as they all said it was… Well don't be expecting our help anytime soon, Regina. Emma saved your life tonight; the least you could do is thank her. It's more than I would have done."

And with that Snow stormed out of the front doors to check on her true love.

Emma had uncharacteristically stayed silent for the entire conversation; it was one of the only fights she had successfully managed to stay out of since she had first arrived in Storybrooke. And now it was just her and the Evil Queen, alone in the mayor's noiseless mansion.

Emma stared up at the brunette from the floor while Regina glared down at the blonde from the top of the stairs, clutching the banister desperately with a tormented mix of frustration, pain, and anger etched across her face.

"Emma! Get out here right now. We're leaving," Snow called from outside.

The sheriff turned mutely towards the door before Regina's voice stopped her. It was soft and hesitant, and so unlike the woman she had just seen catapult her father out the front door.

"If Henry asks about me, please tell him I'm fine. I don't want him to worry."

She had never heard the mayor use the word 'please' before, and Emma's stomach twisted into a knot at the slight pleading quality her voice had taken on, as if it was finally cracking under the pressure of an all-out, knock-down, terrible day.

Emma glanced up again only to find that Regina's eyes were glistening.

"I will," Emma promised, and she closed the door behind her.

* * *

Emma met her parents fawning over each other on the impeccably well-kept path in front of Regina's house.

"The nerve of that woman! Tossing you around like that," Snow twittered, checking her husband's face for any cuts or bruises. Charming was pissed.

"I'll have her head for this!" he raged. "I should throw her over the borderline of the town right now! I am, for all intensive purposes, the King of Storybrooke. Our reign was pretty much reinstated the moment everyone got their memories back."

"I'll call the dwarves. I can get Grumpy to reform the resistance. You remember how helpful he was the first time we tried to overthrow her…"

"Whoa guys! Slow down," Emma interjected. "Aren't we forgetting that she's the only reason any of us made it through the portal alive?"

"One good deed does not undo an entire lifetime of evil, Emma," Snow countered darkly.

"I know, but you can tell she's trying."

"She must have had some ulterior motive."

"Like what? She didn't have to bring us back. If she had let us die she could have had Henry all to herself!"

"She's dangerous, Emma. She could hurt someone. Just look at what she did to your father!"

"True," Emma reasoned, trying to appeal to her mother's sensibilities, "but she can't do anything more right now. She even said so herself, she's going to try and sleep off whatever the curse did to her. Let's just deal with it in the morning." Emma's shoulders sagged as she finished her statement in a winded breath. She was exhausted, and all she really wanted to do was go to sleep herself.

Snow eyed the mayoral mansion warily, "I don't trust her."

"Neither do I," Charming agreed.

"C'mon guys! You don't have to trust her." Emma whined petulantly, even stomping her foot in the effort. She was quickly losing her patience with her parents' unshakably biased opinion. "Just trust _me_ on this one, okay?"

When they still looked unconvinced, their mirrored skeptical faces shining like beacons of disappointment in the night air, Emma changed tactics.

"You know what? Fine. You don't trust her not to destroy the town while we're all sleeping? _I'll_ stand guard over her house until morning."

Both of her parents started to protest at this but she held up a hand to stop them.

"No. Let me put it a different way. Just… hear me out." The sheriff took a deep steadying breath and steeled her nerves for what she was about to say.

"You guys'… 'true-love…ness'," Emma struggled to find the right words and haphazardly flung her arms about in order to help with her articulation, "has been on hold for far too long and I'm sure you have some… catching up… to do." She winced at her word choice but plowed forward anyway. "And I don't really want to be around for that… you know? Especially now that I know you're my parents and all. So I'll just stay here. See? Killing two birds with one stone. Problem solved."

Their daughter smiled weakly but its intent didn't quite reach her eyes. "You'd actually be doing us all a favor."

Snow worried her face: glancing first at Charming, then back at Emma, then back at Charming again. Her eyebrows pulled together in indecision, "Emma, are you sure?"

"Positive," Emma lied. "I'm not even tired. I'm still too worked up from all that magic-heart stuff. And the curse stuff… I couldn't even sleep if I wanted to." The blonde bounced on the balls of her feet, hoping that her fake restlessness would throw them off the trail of her utter fatigue.

Snow wrapped her up in a crushing hug. "Thank you. You are the best daughter anyone could ask for. We love you so much Emma," she stated warmly as heartfelt tears crowded her eyes. "And we will deal with Regina tomorrow."

Snow released her death-grip and Emma could breathe once again.

As the love-struck pair walked arm and arm away from the house towards Mary Margaret's apartment, Emma shot a text to Ruby telling her to keep Henry at Granny's tonight and promising to fill her in with all of the juicy details later.

Shoving her phone back into her pocket, Emma studied the dim light emanating from Regina's bedroom window. The glow was warm and inviting, and all of a sudden it was as if Emma had hit a brick wall.

With the adrenaline rush of the evening gone, the blonde found that she could barely keep her eyes open. Her eyelids seemed to be steadily drooping, closing heavily of their own volition without any input from her whatsoever.

Stifling a gargantuan yawn, Emma eyed the mayor's door. She'd been the last one to go through it and she hadn't locked it behind her.

_She really did not want to spend her first night back in Storybrooke crouched in the mayor's bushes._

There wouldn't be any harm in staking her out from inside the house, Emma reasoned. She'd just get up before Regina came down for breakfast and the mayor would never even know she had been there. And judging by the way Regina had been acting tonight, the usual early riser would most likely be sleeping soundly all the way into the late afternoon. It was definitely going to take more than a few hours of good sleep to get rid of that curse.

Emma crept as quietly as she could back up the path and jiggled the door handle. The front door swung open into the dark and empty entryway and she stuck her head in to peer around.

_Yep. The mayor was still upstairs._

And with that, the sheriff slid into Regina's house unnoticed, and locked the door behind her.


	6. A Spark Ignited

**Chapter 6: A Spark Ignited**

As soon as the Charmings had vacated her residence, Regina had nearly collapsed into her bedroom, barely making it to the chair in front of her vanity without blanching. Her hands were shaking as she gripped the seat for support.

_What the hell was going on inside of her body?_

The curse just felt wrong swirling around within her; she could feel it clogging her pores until her skin seemed filled to bursting with strange sensations, as if it was being stretched too tightly across a much larger surface, pulsing and freezing as it tried to contort the essence of who she was. Regina's immune system was obviously fighting it's very hardest to kill the darkening power rattling around in her ribcage like some kind of a feral animal, but if these random surges of magic were any indication… her body was not winning the battle.

This was not like her own innate magic at all.

Her own magic was an extended part of herself; equivalent to that of having an extra limb or a sixth sense. It did her bidding as soon as she willed it and its feelings and potency always mirrored her own desires at the time. It was as effortless as it was painless, and it's wondrously purple color was unique to her alone. She had been born with an intrinsic potential for magic and her tutors had told her many times before that she was a naturally gifted sorceress. Enchantments fell from her fingertips as easily as rain from an overripe storm cloud.

Yes, she knew how seductive the pull of magic could be… but as addictive as it was, she couldn't deny that it had been a consistent source of strength in the past. It was the only thing that had allowed her to take back the control she had lost over her life; it had helped her to feel powerful when she had felt that she was helpless. And now it seemed that her age-old friend had turned against her.

A horrifying thought crossed the mayor's mind: what if she had suddenly lost the ability to control what she was conjuring?

She instantly envisioned a piping-hot mug of herbal tea warming her hands, its steam curling up under her nostrils like errant fingers of cigarette smoke.

Nothing.

Regina remembered the hairbrush sitting on the sink of her adjoining bathroom and scowled as she told it to levitate through the room and into her hand.

Nothing.

Panic burst within her as she spun around to face the window and glowered at the drapes surrounding its frame, daring them to come to life like she had done to the vines in her office wallpaper mere weeks before.

Nothing.

Not a puff. Not a whiff. Not even a hint of her own purple flair anywhere.

* * *

Regina ran a single hand through her cropped hair to brush it out of her face. Her nerves were utterly shot and her eyes were bleary with exhaustion, but the brunette refused to give up. She had never had problems accessing her magic before: never in Fairytale Land and never in Storybrooke… at least not after Emma had kick-started it by touching her in the gallery that night.

But she didn't want to think about that.

She knew her own magic was still there; she could barely feel it humming, hidden deep within her subconscious somewhere just out of reach. But it was weak and struggling like a dying baby bird that had fallen from its nest and broken its wings. It fluttered pathetically at the bottom of her soul, and despite all of her best efforts, Regina just couldn't get it to take flight.

The more she pushed against the weight of the curse bearing down inside of her, the more strongly it pushed back.

She knew Henry didn't want her to use magic. But if she could only figure out how to control the curse, then maybe she could finally get rid of it.

Regina had wracked her brain and attempted almost every spell she could think of; from anything as minute as opening a door without touching it to the more rigorous and grandiose spells like altering her appearance. Still nothing.

The only thing she hadn't dared to try was teleporting, for fear of the disastrous results if her attempts backfired. As much as she loved 'poofing' from place to place in a cloud of purple smoke, it just wasn't worth the risk. The splinching effect in her son's Harry Potter books had cut remarkably close to the truth.

And so the mayor had downgraded to perching resignedly in front of her vanity and trying to light a candle with her mind.

Regina had been staring at that candle for nearly an hour and a half.

_This time it'll work._

Taking another deep steadying breath, the brunette settled her face as close to the candle as possible, making sure she was eye-level with it before she focused her gaze hard on the wick in front of her, and again, willed the candle to light itself.

Within seconds, the pain bloomed in her chest and flowered through her veins like glacial ice, soaking her heart in a thin layer of malice and threatening to pierce its thumping exterior. But still she focused.

_Concentrate on the flame. Only the flame. Light and heat. Light and heat. Think about the warmth._

She blinked away the bead of sweat that had fallen into her eyelashes and gritted her teeth against the undeniable onslaught she knew was coming, vainly trying to force the curse into submission before it snapped like a whip inside of her.

_Light the candle. Light it._

Her arms trembled and her heart raced at a thousand beats per minute. She could feel the energy bubbling up inside of her and she tried to push it down, focusing harder and harder on the candle in front of her.

_Do what I tell you to do!_

The inevitable backlash erupted in a blaze of anguish around her as the curse rebelled violently against her wishes and rocked her to her core. Green smoke rushed around Regina like a hurricane: the bedposts shook, picture frames crashed off of the nightstand, and a vase threw itself against the wall in a volley of neon sparks. She let out a small cry of pain and hung onto the dresser with both arms as another tremor rocketed up her spine, shaking her body like an earthquake and dancing over her skin.

Powerless to stop it, the mayor clung to the furniture until the smoke decided to dissipate and the trembling in her limbs receded back to a manageable level; the curse leaving only the echo of its assault tingling deep within her straining muscles.

The outbursts were becoming more brutally frequent and aggressive the longer she tried to access her own magic, and Regina wasn't sure how much more of a beating her body could take before she finally gave out.

She was freezing again; the hair on her arms stood at attention and her nipples were pinched uncomfortably tight underneath the silk of her nightgown. She winced as she disengaged her hands from where she had seized the edge of the dresser. They had deep rivets dug into them from where she had gripped the rim and she was still having trouble trying to calm her erratic breathing.

And the candle was still unlit.

Regina slowly raised her eyes to the mirror perched atop her vanity and grimaced; this last attempt at magic had splintered the poor thing beyond repair. Hairline fractures crisscrossed twisting paths across the polished glass, reflecting six twin sets of her own glowing eyes back at her through the cracks. Regina stared at the army of inner demons glaring in her direction and recoiled at the cruelty illuminated in their gaze… in her own eyes. She was terrifying.

Shaking her head, the Queen tore her gaze away from her reflection and rubbed roughly at her temples where a headache had taken up a steady pulse behind her eyes. She breathed out a heavy, exasperated sigh.

Goosebumps skittered across her skin like cockroaches and her teeth had started chattering again.

"Goddamn it," she muttered.

Grumbling to herself as she crossed the room, the brunette slid into the black silk robe that matched her nightgown and threw her bedroom door open in a huff.

She knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything given the current state she was in; which was something she immediately intended to rectify.

_All I need are some blankets and warm tea, and I will be better than ever. Then I will be ready to attack this curse head on._

Regina warily tried to convince herself that this was not what she had already been trying to do for the past however many hours and clenched her jaw in agitation. She decided to ignore the dropping feeling in her gut that seemed to be trying to pull her heart down to meet it.

The Queen marched herself downstairs.

* * *

The soft padding of Regina's bare feet against the hard wood floor echoed throughout her lonely house. Her home had always been large, but it had been a long time since it had felt that way. Henry's scampering footsteps and boyish giggling had always filled up the hollow space left by the lavish architect's design. But without him to fill the void, the halls practically rang with the aching emptiness of someone that had lost too much.

A single tear surreptitiously leaked out unbidden and stole down the Queen's cheek. She quickly wiped it away; she refused to cry anymore. Crying just made her head hurt.

So Regina absent-mindedly let her eyes trail over her flawlessly decorated mansion in appreciation instead. It really was a shame that no one would be coming over anymore, she thought aimlessly. _I have remarkably good taste._

Then the brunette unexpectedly stopped walking. Something was out of place.

Someone was sleeping on her couch.

The figure was sprawled haphazardly across the sofa with their skin-tight denim ass in the air; one limb was draped unceremoniously over the arm of the couch while the fingers on the other hand dangled limply off the edge to brush at the carpet. Regina barely had time to agonize over the fact that the mystery person hadn't removed their boots before flopping onto her furniture when she saw the trademark leather jacket.

Regina sighed. Her intruder was definitely one Ms. Emma Swan, obnoxious blonde extraordinaire.

_But how did she still manage to look so cute thrown over the couch like that?_ The mayor tilted her head to the side in contemplation.

Even in that undignified position, Emma exuded an odd sort of endearing charm; her soft golden curls were spilled around her head like a halo, making her look every bit the part of a disheveled princess, even if she could only see half of her face underneath the tangled mess. She was snoring lightly and with each breathy exhale a few loose tendrils of blonde hair would flutter in front of her parted pink lips. Lips that not-so-long-ago had been pressed fervently against her own.

Regina's stomach did a little involuntary flip at the memory. How was it that this endlessly frustrating woman could look so peacefully angelic when she was asleep, only to turn into such a pain in the ass when she was conscious? The scrappy sheriff annoyed Regina to no end, but it was an essential part of what drew the mayor to her; that woman could take a beating and keep on going. Emma gave as good as she got and it was refreshing to finally have someone in this town that Regina could consider her combative equal… and combative was just how she was feeling at the moment.

The mayor's magic-trials upstairs had left her on edge and feeling more aggressive than usual, and Regina wanted nothing more than to spar with someone. And that someone just happened to be napping in her immediate vicinity.

Regina smirked a little at the wrath she was about to unleash on the unsuspecting sheriff and crossed her arms in front of her chest in preparation of her tirade. "Ms. Swan!" Regina barked, her voice echoing like a megaphone throughout the cavernous room.

Emma sat straight up on the couch, awaking with such a jolt that she rolled off of the sofa in her sudden panic and smacked her head against the coffee table. Regina had to stifle a grin at the blonde's continuous ineptitude to be as graceful as her last name suggested.

The sheriff rubbed her head and peered up at the mayor with groggy eyes, looking just as guilty as Henry did whenever Regina caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.

"What are you doing in my house?!" the Queen demanded.

Emma's sleep-coated mind struggled with the vision before her. Regina was clad in nothing but a black silky robe that barely brushed the tops of her thighs and her face was completely devoid of makeup; both of which made her appear incredibly soft. But in stark contrast to that was the intimidating no-nonsense stance that the brunette had chosen to stand in, causing her to radiate the commanding presence of the Evil Queen even in the absence of her ubiquitous high heels. The overall effect was that she looked all the more stubbornly beautiful for it, poised in the moonlight that was filtering through the adjacent window, and the sight had left Emma's thoughts momentarily gaping without words.

"I… uh…"

"Were you trying to spy on me?" Regina pushed, clearly miffed by the blonde's unwelcome intrusion.

"I, um… no."

Regina pursed her lips into a thin line. "Does your lie detector trick work on yourself, Ms. Swan? Because I'm not buying it. Try again," she growled.

The sheriff stumbled around her words, picking herself off the floor in the process to try and regain some of her composure. _Standing was a good start; might even give her some authority._

Emma cleared her throat, "Ok, well, if you must know, then… technically… yes. I was. I was sent here to keep an eye on you."

The mayor hit her hard with a stern glare, "Then I'll have you locked up for breaking and entering."

And before Emma could even process what was happening, Regina was making a beeline for the telephone in the kitchen.

"Wait! Regina, don't!"

Emma raced after the self-righteous brunette, in her alarm completely forgetting that the former mayor didn't have anyone to call that would actually arrest her. She was the sheriff after all.

"That's not the only reason!"

"Oh?" Regina turned abruptly in the middle of the kitchen and Emma nearly ran into her, skidding to a halt mere inches from the brunette's face. Emma's breath caught in her throat.

Regina cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at the blonde's obviously flustered demeanor, "Care to enlighten me, Sheriff?"

Emma could feel the heat rushing to her face as she shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, giving herself a little more breathing room between her and the mayor. She couldn't form coherent thoughts standing that close to Regina's lips, not now that she knew what they felt like underneath her own.

"Well, you know how I live with Mary Margaret…"

Regina's eyebrows pinched together.

"I mean, Snow White…"

Her furrow lines deepened.

"You know what I mean! Whoever she is now! I live with… my mom?" Emma raked an aggravated hand through her hair helplessly.

"Ever the eloquent one in the dead of night I see," Regina drawled amusedly. "Get to the point, Ms. Swan." She was quite enjoying this.

"Ok, well, as you know, she and my dad have been away from each other for a long time and–" Emma made a face before continuing, "I didn't want to be there when they 'found' each other. If you know what I mean."

The room stilled for a minute as Regina processed Emma's well-placed air quotes… and then the Queen burst into laughter. Like actual laughter. Not the usual condescendingly breathy chuckle that Emma had been on the receiving end of many times in the past, but a real, genuine laugh that lilted through the air so beautifully that it was a shame no one had ever heard it before.

Emma found herself smiling at the sound.

Regina grinned breathlessly back at her, "I can't deny you that, Ms. Swan; you make a valid point. I wouldn't want to be around for that either."

The blonde's heart swelled inside her chest.

Maybe it was due to the late hour and the fact that she hadn't slept in what felt like days. Or maybe it was the fact that a curse was slowly eating her from the inside out and she was finally going crazy. But regardless of the reason, Regina was actually enjoying having the blonde nuisance around to talk to. She didn't want company per se, but she didn't want to be alone either, and Emma's tiresome presence was proving to be strangely soothing to the tumultuous queen.

"I also wanted to make sure you were okay," Emma admitted.

Regina blinked at this and her eyes softened a little in surprise at the sincerity in the sheriff's voice.

Emma took a tentative step toward the mayor, "So… are you okay?"

Still not really comfortable with the idea of anyone looking out for her, Regina scoffed lightly at the concern and slipped easily back into her usual jabbing mannerisms. Her standoffishness had always worked well as a deflection technique in the past.

"Well, as you can see, I'm still in one piece," she huffed indignantly.

Emma's eyes roamed leisurely over the impressive figure before her and her voice noticeably deepened, "That you are."

The words came out of her mouth more suggestively than she had originally intended, but their effect was on the mayor was instantaneous. Regina's eyes dilated with desire and suddenly the air around them was thick with a lust the blonde had not expected to be reciprocated.

Blood pounded in Emma's ears and before she knew what was happening, her hands had moved without her permission and she was grabbing onto Regina's waist and pressing the full length of her body flush against the brunette's lithe frame. Regina let out a small gasp as her back bumped into the kitchen counter as Emma clutched roughly at the mayor's hipbones, enthralled by the soft satin between her fingers.

All Emma could think about was Regina's skin: the delicate skin decorating her exposed collarbones, the sensitive skin quivering over the pulse point in her throat, the flushed skin under her nightgown that was separated from her own only by the flimsy fabric in her hand… and how she wanted to taste it all.

Both women were breathing heavily and they could taste each other's breath mixing in the increasingly smaller space between them. Regina's eyelids fluttered as Emma pulled her hips into her own and Emma's eyes flicked to the mayor's enticing mouth.

Emma licked her lips. Regina swallowed roughly.

Then the blonde's brain reengaged at the most inconvenient time. Suddenly realizing what she was doing and wondering if she'd taken their usual flirting a little too far, she took a shaky step back from Regina only to immediately miss the feel of the other woman pressed against her. But when she finally managed to look up again the Queen was blushing furiously and Emma lost her nerve.

"Okaaaaaaaaay," Emma slurred, drawing out the letters longer than necessary. "Well, um, yeah. I should probably get going now." She shoved her hands in her pockets and mumbled at the ground, "Sorry I trespassed in your house and all."

And then the blonde was practically sprinting for the mayor's front door.

"Wait!"

Emma stopped with her hand on the door handle and turned back towards the raspy voice. Regina was silhouetted in the doorway of the kitchen, all rumpled hair and soft skin with eyes that betrayed her desperate need to not be alone, and the sheriff's heart sunk in her chest. She couldn't leave her here by herself.

Regina cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders, erecting her queenly posture back into place.

"Ms. Swan, I may be the Evil Queen, but that does not make me a bad hostess. It would be terribly ungracious of me to throw you out of my house at this ungodly hour. So if you help me carry the blankets upstairs you can sleep in the guest bedroom."

"Blankets?" the blonde asked incredulously, completely thrown off by this sudden change of events.

"Yes. They're the only reason I came down here in the first place." When Emma just kept staring at her blankly, she continued with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm cold," Regina stated plainly, and wrapped her arms tightly around her mid-drift as if to accentuate the point. The cursed chill was seeping into the pit of her stomach again.

Emma bit back the insult about the mayor's calculating nature that immediately flew to the tip of her tongue. Old habits die hard. _You and Regina are actually getting along and she just invited you to stay in her house. Be nice._

Emma's heart nearly beat out of her ribcage at the thought of sleeping anywhere near the brunette and she mentally checked herself. _She said guest room, Emma. Get a grip._

The blonde shrugged with what she hoped to god looked like nonchalance, "Anything to help the Queen."


	7. How to Hold a Heart

**Chapter 7: How to Hold a Heart **

Emma felt absolutely absurd standing in the middle of the Queen's bedroom holding a pile of fluffy blankets in her arms.

After telling the sheriff that she could find the blankets folded in the hope chest in her study, Regina had nearly fallen over herself as she raced up the stairs to fix the mess that was the current state of her bedroom. Now with the remains of the shattered vase stashed in the trash, the broken picture frames hidden in the bottom drawer of her dresser, and the stubborn candle returned to its proper place behind her sink, the mayor's private sanctuary had once again been restored to its painfully regimented precision just in time for Emma to saunter through the door.

The blonde looked like a drop of chaos standing in the middle of the deceivingly meticulous calm; all unruly curls and nervous eyes and fidgety fingers, and Regina couldn't stop the small grin that was pulling at the corner of her lips. Emma radiated a wild kind of vibrance into the rigid room and Regina internally sighed in relief that she had managed to return it to its usual immaculate state before the sheriff got there.

Emma rocked on the balls of her feet as she surveyed the pristine environment until her eyes stuttered to a halt on something that didn't fit. "What happened to your mirror?"

A little of the color drained from Regina's face as she followed the Savior's gaze towards the fractured glass. _Shit. She had forgotten about that damned mirror; the crack in her polished façade glaringly obvious in its tangible form. _

But being groomed to be a politician had its perks and the Queen quickly covered up the unsightly truth with a lie, "Oh that old thing? I barely touched it and it cracked… can you believe it?"

Emma's eyes narrowed like she didn't, but thankfully she said nothing.

"Just put the blankets on the foot of the bed, dear."

Grateful for something to busy herself with, the blonde ambled over to the bed with her heavy load and leaned over to place the pile on the edge of the mattress. She was so fixated on not tripping over her own feet and making a fool of herself in front of Regina that she almost missed the mayor checking out her ass as she did so.

When Emma turned back around the brunette's eyes hastily darted upwards towards her face and the mayor wet her lips.

"Mmm," Regina hummed, looking around the room to distract herself. "Now what do I have that will fit you? I already know that we wear the same shirt size, since you seem to enjoy stealing mine so much more than you do buying your own."

Emma's mouth dropped open like she was about to protest but no words came out. Instead she settled for shoving her suddenly sweaty palms back into her pockets.

"Oh don't look so shocked, Ms. Swan; I'm not blind. And although I may be allowing you to stay in my house for the night, I am most certainly not about to let you dirty any more of my furniture with what you're wearing."

Regina rummaged through the second drawer of her dresser to return with a perfectly folded pajama set in her hands, which she promptly placed into Emma's with a pleased smirk curling up the corner of her lips.

"Um, thanks. These are really nice," Emma muttered hesitantly as she fingered the red silk top and matching pants. It looked more expensive than anything she'd ever owned, let alone had on her body.

"Everything I own is nice, Ms. Swan. And be careful with those!" she nearly squealed, swatting the blonde's questing digits away from the rich fabric. "It's one of my favorites."

Why Regina had decided to give her one of her favorite pairs of pajamas was beyond her, but Emma suddenly felt a faint blush beginning to creep up her neck at the thought. _The mayor's naked body had probably been wrapped in these pajamas very recently…_

Regina had invaded Emma's personal space quite a bit in order to slap her hand away and the pair was now standing much too close to each other for comfort. Their brief encounter in the kitchen swam to the forefront of the mayor's mind and a small knot of warmth began to coil low in her abdomen at the sheriff's proximity; it was a welcome sensation that had absolutely nothing to do with the curse rolling around inside of her.

The Queen's sultry lips parted as she leaned in towards Emma's face only to stop a few inches from her jaw, her mouth quirking up in satisfaction as she felt the blonde stop breathing in response.

"Now get out of my room, Sheriff Swan," Regina whispered darkly, a glint of mischief shining behind her even darker eyes. "A queen needs her beauty sleep."

Then using only the tips of her manicured fingers she applied just enough pressure on the sheriff's shoulders for Emma to take a tiny step back, but not before the brunette had made note of how the blonde's heart was thumping madly beneath her breastbone.

"Right," Emma faltered quietly and slipped out the door into the hallway_._

_She needed to get away from the Queen right now if she was going to keep their relationship anything close to resembling platonic. Damn Regina was sexy. The woman had always been hard to say no to but this… and had Regina just made a joke about herself?_

Emma turned back with a question in her eyes.

The mayor answered it without being asked. "Second door on the right."

Emma nodded and began to walk backward down the hallway, refusing to relinquish her gaze from the Queen just yet. Regina was being kind of fun for once, and she just couldn't help how intoxicating it was.

"Now don't go blowing up the town before I wake up," Emma pointed a finger at the brunette in a playful manner and then inwardly smacked herself in the face. _Only idiot teenage boys acted like this; what the fuck was she doing?_

"No promises," Regina husked back, and with a fleeting twist of her lips she closed the door behind her.

Emma found herself unable to contain the smile currently splitting her face and had almost reached the guest bedroom when she heard the door behind her creak open again.

"Oh, and sheriff," Regina had only peeked her head out of the doorframe; her tussled bob floating around her face like a cloud. "Thank you for saving me today."

Emma stopped dead in her tracks. The genuineness of Regina's words made her voice momentarily catch in her throat and her heart rate speed up again as she took in the most open and honest look she had ever seen grace the mayor's face. Regina was looking at her with eyes she could have fallen into they were so dark and deep.

"Don't mention it," Emma managed.

"Oh don't worry," the Queen sneered; the younger, purer version of herself hiding once again as a hint of her old devious self flashed back across her face. "I won't."

* * *

Emma awoke to an odd assortment of sounds filtering through the wall of the guest room. At first she wasn't sure what to make of them; maybe she just was hearing things after all. But as she pressed her meddlesome ear against the wall in question she was sure that she could hear groaning; plaintive little moans and whimpers of pain circulating in the dark just outside her vision.

_Was Regina's house haunted? _After learning your parents were fairytale characters, anything seemed possible.

Curiosity got the better of her and she popped her head out to search the hallway.

Silence.

But then she heard it again, a faint sniveling sound that echoed up through the lofted ceiling of the entryway.

_Was that coming from Regina's room?_

Knowing better but doing it anyway, Emma quietly crept down the hall towards the master bedroom to sate her interest.

A foreign idea idly knocked around in the back of Emma's head as she tiptoed forward._ The Evil Queen didn't have nightmares, did she? _Remorse for past wrong-doings didn't really fit the bill of a malicious tyrant... but if Emma thought having her heart almost ripped out was traumatic, then she couldn't even begin to fathom what taking one would feel like._ That could really fuck somebody up psychologically,_ the blonde mused to herself. Maybe there was some part of Regina that actually regretted what she'd done.

But Emma was jostled from her thoughts as soon as she reached the entrance to the mayor's bedroom. Green fumes were leaking copiously from underneath it and the whimpers were getting louder.

An anguished groan resonated from within and more bilious smoke poured from under the door.

"Regina?" Emma knocked on the door. "Are you okay?"

Something that sounded like a muffled shriek through gritted teeth was her only response.

"Regina?" Emma asked again, getting a little panicky.

She tried the door handle. It was locked.

"Regina?"

A scream of pain screeched through the door and all of Emma's instincts kicked into high-gear.

"Regina I'm breaking down the door!" Emma called out once more before careening her shoulder forcefully into the wood, splintering the framing around the lock and buckling one of the hinges. "Please don't kill me," she added under her breath.

Emma flew into the room only to be instantly engulfed by a wave of thick green smoke that rushed out into the free air of the hallway. She coughed and sputtered like a firefighter without a gasmask, squinting through the green and trying to navigate her way through the fog to find the mayor.

The sheriff gasped when she reached her intended destination.

Regina was having a seizure in the middle of the bed; the covers ripped from her body and strewn haphazardly towards the bottom of the mattress in a jumbled heap. Bolts of neon lightning arched over her form like charges from a stripped electrical wire; electrocuting strands shooting out of errant shoulder blades and elbows only to reconnect and disappear under the skin of a thigh, her forehead, or anywhere else it could reach in its desperate need to reenter the mayor's rapidly cooling flesh.

A dry sob fled the brunette's mouth as a particularly big jolt shook her body with tremors anew, her hands fighting to cling to the bed sheets as her arms flailed and her legs thrashed, her torso rapidly flipping between concave and convex as her body tried to expel the poison from within her. Sparks popped into the air as she twitched and seized uncontrollably, her teeth nearly biting through her lip as she tried unsuccessfully to keep another groan of pain at bay.

Emma did the only thing she could think of: she jumped on top of the writhing Queen to stop her from hurting herself any more than she already had.

The electrical current tore through Emma like a shock wave, unexpected in its intensity but not entirely unpleasant. Her skin tingled wherever she and Regina touched, freezing and warming like the magic flowing between them didn't quite know what to do with itself, and she felt her blood surge with adrenaline the more she came into contact with the brunette. Emma clamped her arms and legs around the mayor like a straightjacket and held on for dear life as Regina continued to spasm and jerk, charges of energy leaping out of her skin and dissipating into the blonde's until the smoke around them eventually evaporated and the Queen's body began to settle back into its original state of being.

Emma pulled her head back and watched as the glowing green in Regina's eyes diminished and they returned to their usual enchanting hue. But as soon as the dark chocolate color had seeped back into her orbs Regina was gulping in rapid shallow breaths in a panic, her chest heaving as she blinked furiously and tried to get her eyes to refocus on the world around her.

When her eyes finally cleared, they locked onto Emma's in unmitigated terror and her hands gripped at the blonde's forearms so tightly that she was sure Regina's fingernails were leaving marks.

This was the second time in less than twenty-four hours that Regina had regained consciousness with Emma on top of her.

"Hey. Hey, it's okay," Emma cooed. "I've got you, Madam Mayor. Don't worry. I've got you."

The curse might have stopped hurting her for the moment but the lingering cold was a tortuous side-effect, and Emma readied herself for the storm she was sure would follow.

She continued to mutter barely audible reassurances into Regina's neck as the mayor shook violently beneath her, wracked with uncontrollable shivers that had her teeth chattering so fiercely that Regina's head had started to quiver in the effort to keep her enamel from clashing together. Emma pressed herself down even harder onto the brunette and tightened her hold, trying to soak up as much of the cooling vapor she could and staunch the intense shudders that continued to plague the distressed woman's limbs.

The cold was flowing freely out of the Queen and into the blonde, and as a result both pairs of their nipples were rock hard. Their breasts brushed together as Regina clung to Emma's warmth and Emma had to fight hard to stifle the loud moan that was humming at the back of her throat. She quite liked the look of Regina sprawled out beneath her, grasping desperately onto her shoulders for support.

_Now is not the time to get turned on,_ Emma chastised herself. _The woman is nearly incapacitated you sicko._

So when Emma finally began to feel some of the mayor's natural body heat start to return to her skin, the blonde rolled onto her side still clutching the Queen tightly in her grasp. Regina's head landed perfectly in the crook of her shoulder and Emma rested her chin on top of the brunette's hair, her one hand drifting aimlessly up and down the mayor's bicep in a soothing motion while her other arm wrapped itself protectively around the woman's trim waist.

The fallen mayor of Storybrooke let herself be held… for the moment. The old Regina would have never let herself be comforted, least of all by Emma Swan. _Needing comfort was a weakness and a Queen doesn't have weaknesses._ But something in her didn't struggle to leave Emma's arms. Maybe Henry was right. Maybe she was changing.

Emma was still wearing Regina's pajamas and her deliciously silk-covered body was rubbing sinfully against her own satin nightgown, which had ridden up quite a bit during their previous scuffle. In trying to cover as much of Regina's body as possible, one of Emma's thighs had fallen between her own while the other had ended up hooked over the mayor's hip, and anytime Emma tried to shift her position it sent a small wave of pleasure hurtling through the brunette's core. Regina bit down on her lip and pulled the blonde a little bit closer to her.

But as the cursed tremors started to subside and the world began to return to normal, Emma felt the inevitably uncomfortable silence beginning to descend upon the room; she and the Queen's intimate moment slowly dissipating back into the awkward realm of reality. Now that the immediate need for comfort was gone, what were they supposed to do?

She was lying in bed cuddling with a woman she was supposed to despise, but apparently didn't anymore. Weird didn't even begin to cover it.

So Emma did what she did best. She just started blathering to fill the empty space.

"So… how are you feeling?"

"Better."

"Good. That's good…" Emma chewed on her lip as she tried to think of a tactful way to ask the question that had been eating at her since she got there, "So, what was it that made you explode into a swirling vortex of green doom this time?"

Unfortunately she had inherited her tact from her father's side of the family.

Regina immediately tensed in her arms, "That is none of your business, Ms. Swan."

"It just seems to me like you're not doing any of this on purpose and I was just wondering if anything in particular was triggering it." She raised a questioning eyebrow in the brunette's direction.

Regina kept silent. The blonde was far too observant for her own good sometimes. She didn't want Emma to know about her lack of control over the curse for fear that the sheriff might lock her up like her father had suggested, labeling the mayor as a menace to society and forcing her to remain imprisoned for the rest of her days, never to see Henry again.

Likewise, she also had no desire to go into the very vivid nightmare she had been having before she had woken up riddled with green sparks and seizing under the sheriff's weight.

A question of her own however, was tapping incessantly at the front of her brain.

"How did you not go flying when I touched you?"

"No idea," Emma answered honestly. "It might have something to do with me being the product of true love and all though. At least that's what Gold said."

"He said what?"

"You know, I actually have a fun story about that," the blonde replied conversationally, trying to keep the atmosphere somewhat light-hearted. "Did you know that your mom tried to rip out my heart while I was away?"

Regina jumped away from her so fast that Emma almost didn't see her move. The mayor scrambled frantically off the edge of the bed and backed herself towards the corner like a frightened animal, a look of pure horror on her face.

"My mother TOOK your HEART?!"

"No!" Emma exclaimed in a rush. "No, she tried but she couldn't!"

"What do you mean she couldn't?" Regina asked suspiciously. She couldn't stand the thought of her mother controlling Emma, not with everything that had already transpired between them. The betrayal would cut too deep.

"I mean she couldn't! That bitch plunged her hand into my chest, grabbed my heart and pulled! Which was not fun mind you." Emma tried to ignore Regina's sickened expression at this and plowed forward.

"But it didn't work. My heart was stuck in my chest like it was tethered there by big steel chains or something, and then there was this big burst of magic and your mom shot backwards. And then I don't really know what happened because I jumped into that freaking portal and popped out of a well that apparently had a curse over it that you and Gold put there, only you sucked it up when Henry got mad at you."

Emma rattled this all out in one breath; finally getting to say it all out loud was actually kind of cathartic.

"Speaking of which, we've really got to get rid of this thing," the blonde finished, waving her hand in the general direction of Regina's body.

The Queen immediately bristled under the insult to her prowess as a conjuror. As if she hadn't been attempting to do that already.

"Excuse me?"

"The curse. The creepy green power surges. I don't know how well Storybrooke is going to react when they find out that the Evil Queen is running around with her magic again."

"Don't you think I already know that?" Regina hissed as she began to pace; her disdain for the town she had created beginning to seethe in her abdomen. "I'm trying."

"I know you are. And I'm just trying to help."

"Help?" The brunette spat out the word like it was dirty and whirled around to pierce Emma with an icy glare, her eyes flashing with a sickly green spark like a dying firecracker in a hayfield. "What do you know about it that could possibly help?"

"Regina, calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

"Regina…" Emma's voice deepened in seriousness and she prayed that it wouldn't crack and betray how terrified she actually was of the furious woman in front of her. Her hands were outstretched before her like someone would if they were approaching a suicide jumper on the edge of a building, which for all intensive purposes, she felt like she was.

Emma pointedly looked at Regina's fingertips.

Regina snarled as she followed the sheriff's gaze and saw her own hands betraying her rage, crackling with neon sparks, her palms gleaming with green as she could see the curse swirling around under her skin like freezing molten lava.

The poison in her system not quite in full possession of her yet, Regina managed to take several deep calming breaths. Shutting her eyes and attempting to still her inner fury, she clenched and unclenched her fists menacingly as she willed her heartbeat to quiet and her breath to even out, feeling the churning cold retracting further and further under her skin until the green was no longer visible. She shivered once as the curse had settled back in its resting place around her heart and cocked her head slightly to the side in discomfort at the sensation.

When Regina finally opened her eyes again they were back to their sullen brown. "Get out," she growled.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Immediately appalled by the blonde's insolence the curse flared back to life within her, Regina's jaw grinding painfully tight the instant she felt the anger rear its ugly head, pulsing through her chest in its numbing wrath.

But before the glow could return to her skin Emma talked over any retort she had started to make, "Think about it, Regina. I'm the only one that can touch you without getting hurt. What if you need me?"

"That is ridiculous. I don't need you," the mayor instantly rebuked.

"You scorched Mary Margaret, launched my dad over a lawn, and nearly ignited an entire pack of dwarves! I'm pretty sure you'd be in jail if it wasn't for me!"

"So?"

"So?! Wouldn't you say you're a little out of control?"

"I'm fine."

"You're fine?"

"I'm fine."

"But what if I–"

"I'm fine," Regina insisted, more for her own benefit than Emma's.

"You're obviously in pain."

"I am fine, Ms. Swan."

"Goddamn it, Regina! I'm trying to help you!"

"Why?!" the Queen bellowed. "Because you pity me?!"

"Because you shouldn't have to go through this alone!" Emma screamed back.

Silence erupted in the space between them as her words hung suspended in the air like an echo off of a distant canyon wall. Regina's face crumpled slightly and Emma reached out to gently touch her shoulder. Her hand was not shrugged off and there was no accompanying green glow to alight their joining skin.

"You once told me that the worst curse imaginable was not having someone, and I'm not going to let that happen to you," the blonde stated softly. Regina crossed her arms in front of her torso in a show of defiance, but she ended up looking more like a child trying to hold in a stomachache, especially when she turned her big wounded eyes upward to scrutinize Emma's face.

"It's partly my fault this happened to you anyway," the sheriff continued. "So why don't we just lay here for a while? I'm exhausted, and I know you must be. And who knows, maybe my freaky Savior-powers will siphon out some of that green junk while you're asleep."

The mayor's eyebrows pinched together in an indecisive scowl.

"I won't tell anyone," Emma implored.

Regina wanted to protest. Wanted to be strong. Wanted to be vengeful. But right now she was just tired. And sad. And immensely lonely if she let herself admit it. And having another body in bed next to her was exactly what she needed.

The corners of her mouth turned down in a slight grimace as the first few fingers of sunlight snuck past the drawn velvet curtains to accent the shine in the mayor's eyes. A soft 'okay' fell from her lips as she turned away from Emma and crawled under the covers of her over-sized bed, curling in on herself until she was just a small defeated ball of sadness underneath the comforter.

Emma, for her part, slid in effortlessly behind Regina without words and contoured the rest of her body against the trembling queen, draping a shielding arm around her waist and pulling the brunette flush against her own torso.

Regina tensed for a moment at the voluntarily intimate contact, but wherever Emma touched she felt a warm sort of relief seep into her cold exterior and after a while she couldn't help but be enveloped by the blonde's safe embrace. Reluctantly she let herself relax and with a gentle sigh her eyelids fluttered shut, allowing her once again to drift off into a, hopefully, far-less fitful slumber.

Emma held the woman's fragile body close to her own long after the mayor had fallen asleep. She had never realized exactly how tiny Regina was. She was so domineering and callous most of the time that Emma had her built up to be larger-than-life, towering miles above the unprepared blonde in her worst fever dreams, cackling like the evil witch the town had made her out to be. But the broken woman in front of her couldn't be over 5'5 and she fit seamlessly into all of the nooks and curves of Emma's body: the brunette's butt pressed back into her pelvis, her spine brushed neatly against the blonde's abdomen, and her shoulder was the perfect resting height for Emma's chin to fall onto.

And when she finally felt Regina's chest begin to rise and fall in the steady rhythm of guaranteed unconsciousness, the sheriff allowed herself to nuzzle her nose into the brunette's hair and smell the faint aroma of her shampoo.

This was definitely someone worth protecting.


	8. A Golden Opportunity

**Chapter 8: A Golden Opportunity**

Emma woke up way earlier than she wanted to because her arm was numb.

Regina must have tossed and turned within the sheriff's arms sometime during the night because when Emma finally managed to open her eyes, she found herself face-to-face with the Queen. Regina's nose was mere inches from her own; her heavy eyelashes brushed at her cheeks and her lips were slightly parted, blowing warm air over the blonde's chin with each little breathy exhale. The brunette had one arm draped possessively around her waist while the other was pushed up against Emma's chest, her hand resting delicately over the sheriff's beating heart. Their legs were twisted together like wet spaghetti.

Emma's arm was numb because the Queen was sleeping on it.

Regina was still (uncharacteristically, she correctly assumed) out like a light.

Emma just stared at her for a while. Regina was unabashedly beautiful: always when she was primped and haughty and tailored to a fault, but especially so when her guard was down, all fresh and unassuming and remarkably human. The sight tugged at Emma's heartstrings and she was suddenly filled with the urge to bury her face in the brunette's hair and pull her closer. Or at the very least place a reverent kiss on the sleeping Queen's forehead… but she did neither. Regina just looked so blissfully peaceful when she was asleep that Emma didn't have the heart to wake her.

So instead the blonde slowly disentangled herself from their intertwined limbs, painstakingly trying to extract her deadened arm from underneath the mayor without jostling her too much. There was a moment of panic when Regina moaned a little at the loss of contact and teetered on the edge of consciousness, but then she rolled over and buried her face into the pillow, once again completely dead to the world.

After tucking the cocoon of covers back around Regina's drowsy form, Emma slipped quietly out of the room and regrettably changed back into the clothes she's worn the day before, or the weeks before if she really thought about it. They still smelled like Fairytale Land… which consisted mostly of damp campfire, ogre spit, and crow droppings.

_Thank god I can rock the 'I just got out of bed and I don't give a shit' look._

But as Emma had her hand on the door handle, ready to leave the mansion, she stopped. Something just felt incredibly wrong about trying to sneak out of the mayor's house like some kind of shamed whore after a one night stand.

This was not a one night stand… and she didn't want Regina to see it that way either.

So the sheriff busied herself in the kitchen, trying her best to put everything back _exactly_ where she found it, until she had concocted the best pot of coffee she knew how to brew. Then she even went so far as to fold the mayor's pajamas before laying them out on the guest bed for the brunette to find later. She really didn't want Regina to feel abandoned; particularly if it was going to make her burst into flames in a fit of Queen-like rage.

Still, Emma felt that something was lacking… so she decided to leave Regina a note.

_Regina,_

_Don't freak out. I went to go see Gold to get some answers. Meet me at Granny's diner at noon and I'll tell you what I found out. We can figure this out together._

_-Emma _

_P.S. Hope the coffee's not cold when you wake up._

Emma read over the note too many times, suddenly irrationally nervous about leaving it for the mayor. _What if she thought it was stupid? Or what if the whole thing was just too much?_ But she had already gone through the trouble of writing the damn thing, so the blonde steeled her resolve and dropped the note on the nightstand next to the cup she'd brought with her.

Then with a lingering look at the sleeping form in the bed, the sheriff closed the door behind her and set off to see the imp about a curse.

* * *

Streaks of sunlight illuminated the back of her eyelids until her vision, that had once been a placid and soothing shade of black, had changed stubbornly into a muted pink.

Regina groaned and rolled over to escape the persistent beams and snuggle closer to the warm body she expected to be there. She could pretend that she'd been asleep and claim she had no control over her unconscious actions if questioned about it later.

A cold spot on the mattress greeted her instead.

The mayor sat straight up in bed. Disappointment clouded her eyes as her hand moved stupidly over the place where Emma had slept the night before. She shouldn't have expected anything less from the flighty blonde and she huffed out a tiny exasperated sigh, frustrated at herself for getting her hopes up in the first place.

Regina was used to being alone. _No one had ever stayed before; why should now be any different?_

She squinted toward the curtain and frowned.

_And on top of it all, she'd overslept. Great._

But just as she was about to get out of bed and begrudgingly face the town she had terrorized the previous evening, her gaze fell on the folded note resting on top of her nightstand. The page was littered with Emma's unsightly scrawl and a small smile threatened at the corners of the mayor's lips as she perused the message: the blonde had attempted to write Rumpelstiltskin's name three different times before she'd crossed them all out and simply written 'Gold' in big bold letters.

The woman who always ran, who always left, who never let attachments keep her anywhere, who Regina herself had tried to convince to leave countless times before, had stayed for Henry.

_But now she was coming back… for her._

The idea made the brunette's heart feel just a little bit lighter and suddenly the room appeared less gloomy, despite the sheriff's absence.

Regina peered hesitantly inside the mug next to her bed and briefly wrinkled her nose before an uncharacteristic giggle sputtered against her lips.

The coffee was cold but it didn't matter. It was the gesture behind it that counted.

* * *

Emma rolled to a stop in front of the pawnshop and cut the gas; she had decided to take the police cruiser this morning. The blonde had truly missed her trusty bug more than anything, but she had been gone for such a long time that she couldn't remember if the tank had any gas left in it. Time was of the essence and Emma certainly didn't want to waste it if there was a chance that her engine might break down before she got to her intended destination.

The storefront was dark but the sheriff swung the door open anyway, the bell clanging tinnily through the air as the morning rushed in behind her.

"Gold?"

For a fleeting moment, Emma's gaze caught on a woven dream-catcher before she nearly hit her head on a low-hanging unicorn mobile. The polished black stallions swayed dangerously in the draft and she brought her fingers up briefly to stop their momentum.

She paused for a second inside the entrance to give her eyes a moment to adjust to the dim lighting. The shop was just as musty and cluttered as the night before, the walls littered with crooked picture frames and dingy clocks while the surrounding cabinets were stuffed to bursting with rusting candelabras, vials of unknown liquids and multiple globes showing off places that she had never seen.

The blonde could feel the pair of creepy wooden puppets staring at her from within the confines of their display case without even looking at them. _Yep. Just as unpleasant as she remembered it; even more so in the half-light if that was possible._

"It seems that when I bought that 'closed' sign I was just throwing money down the toilet."

Emma started and jumped back a little at the sound of his voice. She hadn't even seen him behind the counter. "I need your help."

"It seems you always do, dearie," the imp sighed, never even deigning to look up from the small cracked teacup he was polishing.

Emma ignored the jab and sauntered right up to the counter, slapping both of her hands down onto the surface so that they made a satisfying smack. She didn't have the time or the patience for the infuriating man's usual song-and-dance routine today.

"I think Regina's going to explode and I need to know how to stop it."

Gold's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as his head snapped up to take in the Savior for the first time that morning, "She's not dead?"

"No," Emma's eyes widened in surprise. "Should she be?"

"Yes."

It was said so matter-of-factly that the sheriff was momentarily at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry… what?"

The imp looked at her like she was an idiot. "Well she did ingest a death curse, dearie; that's kind of what it's supposed to do. Kill things."

Emma was shocked, "Did she know about this?"

His tone was unamused and unhelpful as he continued to buff the tiny cup in his hand, "Being that I blatantly told her 'nobody can survive this' and then she proceeded to do it, yes, I can assume that she knew what she was getting herself into. Although our dear mayor was never known for her listening skills in the past."

Emma's face remained incredulous; she just couldn't wrap her head around the concept of the Queen purposely trying to end her life. _Why would Regina do that? She wouldn't risk losing Henry just to save…_

Her mind refused to finish the thought.

"So you're telling me that Regina thought she was going to die when she sucked up the curse from the well?"

Gold shrugged in a decidedly blasé fashion, "When she didn't perish on the spot I assumed that the curse would just sweep her away sometime in the middle of the night."

When Emma began to nervously pace the small distance between the cabinets lining his shop, Rumpelstiltskin tilted his head slightly to the side and blinked in mild astonishment as a strange notion occurred to him. The blonde breaking protocol and badgering him before business hours was nothing new, but on _the mayor's_ behalf?

_Certainly she couldn't be…_

The imp looked hard at Emma then, his brown irises ringed with a faint golden hoop that hinted at his unfortunate appearance in a land once thought lost. Assessing the sheriff's demeanor he simply inquired, "But you stopped that from happening, didn't you?"

Emma's mind was a kaleidoscope of images and sensations that popped and skidded through her brain like an old-fashioned film reel as last night's events came rushing back to her in vivid clarity.

_Regina dead on the porch. Her sucking out the green stuff. The cold. Then the sudden warmth. Regina's eyes flying open and the look of surprise on her face. The way her lipstick had smudged around the corner of her bottom lip. _

Emma's heart pounded in her chest and she swallowed roughly around a lump that hadn't been in her throat a minute before, "Maybe."

"Fascinating," Gold murmured; his curiosity finally piqued. The man worshipfully placed the porcelain cup back in its glass case before he edged around a giant loom and retreated into the back of the shop, only to reappear almost immediately, limping back up to the counter with a black leather-bound book that just felt like a bad idea.

The tome thudded down on the countertop with a foreboding sense of finality.

"So you think that the mayor is going to blow herself up, is that correct?"

"Yeah," Emma replied, the sound of the brunette's name bringing her back to the present. The blonde shook her head and tried to straighten out her thoughts, but instead found herself drawing closer to the book whose binding had complained loudly as Gold began to flip through it. "Every time she gets mad she starts sparking and glowing, and her skin gets really cold and her eyes like… flash… this green color. And then there's smoke. It started out kinda like a wispy mist but this last time it was almost thick like a cloud. I couldn't even see through it. And it's always green… it's like she hulks out or something and I'm worried she's gonna," the sheriff's hands mimed a small explosion while she mouthed the word 'boom'. "She's just so angry all the time…"

Emma's voice trailed off as the miserable whimpers mumbled against her skin and the fear in Regina's eyes floated to the surface of her memory.

"Sometimes I think it happens when she's sad too," the blonde added quietly.

The minute she said it, Emma felt like she had done something unspeakably wrong, the tidbit of insight suddenly seeming too intimate to share. The prospect of Gold possibly figuring out that Regina had woken up screaming the night before made the sheriff's stomach drop and her fists want to clench. Apparently she didn't want Regina to appear weak just as much as the Queen herself did.

But the pawnshop broker appeared unfazed. He was still reading intently from the weathered page he had come across when he responded, "Close, but no. I'm afraid it's a little more complex than that."

"Our precious Queen turned out to be quite clever with what she managed to do," the man mumbled to himself before drawing his finger down the looping text in front of him. "It would appear that instead of the curse killing her like it was supposed to, that it has alternatively been allowed to incubate and grow inside of its newly acquired host."

"That doesn't sound good."

"A death curse is not supposed to be able to live for a reason, Ms. Swan," Gold intoned cryptically.

But at her bewildered expression he sighed and continued his explanation._ Describing magic to people unfamiliar with the craft was so tiresome._

"Dark magic feeds off of dark thoughts dearie, and every time Regina has an unpleasant emotion pass through that twisted little heart of hers, it gives the curse the extra kick it needs to spring back to life and try to execute her again. But you see, our problem lies in the fact that this poison is _growing_ inside of her, and with every negative thought she gives it, its potency amplifies. The longer it's allowed to ferment, shall we say, the more people it's going to try and take out when it finally consumes her."

He flipped the book shut with one hand.

Emma puffed out her cheeks and let her breath slide out slowly, the air making a slight hissing sound as she released it. "This is bad," she stated plainly, trying to calm her insides from the growing dread that had settled in the pit of her stomach.

"Yes, it's a very bad thing indeed."

Correction: this was a disaster. Fatally lethal dark magic that feeds off of destructive feelings was currently trapped inside of the one person in Storybrooke who was not known for keeping her emotions in check. Regina was essentially a walking death trap, a ticking time bomb that had its countdown hidden, and Emma had absolutely no idea how to diffuse it. How was she supposed to protect all of these fairytale characters from the Evil Queen when she didn't even know how to save the Queen herself?

Emma snapped her fingers as she remembered one of the questions she had thought to ask on her drive over, "How come I can touch her without getting hurt?"

"You being the Savior might have something to do with it. Makes you a little immune to some of life's nastier spells, you lucky girl." The imp encroached on her personal space until she felt inclined to back up slightly; unease twisting her features as her scrutinized her face. "So many unlocked magical abilities…"

But then he seemed to catch himself and he took a step back, leaning assuredly on his cane as he gave the sheriff space to breathe.

"But that's not what is really protecting you. The reason that you're the only one that can touch her… is because you're her true love."

Emma stopped breathing. "I'm… I'm her what?" the blonde stammered.

"Her true love, dearie." His arms gestured wide like a showman and his eyes danced with snide glee as he leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially, "You're the only reason our dear mayor isn't dead in the first place."

Hundreds of adamant denials swarmed her skull in the expanse of seconds, crowding her brainwaves between her suddenly unsteadily shaky breaths, but she couldn't force any of them past her lips. For all of the horror the blonde imagined that she should have felt at this newfound information, Emma experienced none. She did feel like someone had knocked the wind out of her lungs however; the whole idea of being in love with Regina Mills was immensely overwhelming.

Fully enjoying the effect of his surprise, Gold prattled on while the sheriff tried to remember what normalcy felt like. "You see, the pesky little thing that is keeping our Queen alive is the fact that she was willing to end her life for_ you_. The act of sacrificing yourself for your true love produces a powerful burst magic, almost as potent as true love's kiss… but not quite. By attempting to save you, the excess magic the endeavor produced protected her from the initial blast of the curse, which is why she didn't die immediately. Even though I am quite sure that she had no idea what she was doing at the time."

When Rumple added that last part, Emma instinctually rolled her shoulders like she was getting ready for a brawl, feeling unnecessarily insulted by the notion that Regina didn't care about her. The thought bothered her more than she cared to admit; especially when the whole town was under the assumption that she and the mayor loathed one another.

"…but it would seem that her defensive magic is wearing thin, given that she's been turning green and the like, meaning that the curse we enacted is still trying its very hardest to complete its task of annihilating as many living things as it can before it expires. Only true love's kiss can break a curse as formidable as this one, so I'd get to it if I were you, dearie. Preferably before she incinerates the town, seeing as none of us can cross the border without losing our memories."

And suddenly the pawnbroker was ushering her towards the door.

"But I'm not in love with Regina," Emma stammered as she dug her heels into the ground, the thought of kissing the brunette finally flinging the sheriff from her mute stupor.

Her words felt even more insincere than they sounded.

"Maybe not yet," Gold continued with an irritating giggle, "but that doesn't change the fact that you _are_ her true love, destined to find each other in every lifetime and all that, and therefore it is only _your_ kiss that can save our dear dethroned mayor from her untimely fate."

Her voice started to whine as anxiety swelled in her chest, "But I've kissed her once before and she's still seems pretty curs–!" Emma caught herself as a knowing smirk started to sneak across Gold's face. "I mean, I kinda did… kiss her that one time… but not really, I guess… it wasn't my best work you know? …I was giving her mouth-to-mouth… the other day and… I just thought that maybe…"

The poor sheriff floundered around her words, so flustered by the memories of locking onto the mayor's lips that she couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence. Her cheeks flushed a rosy shade of pink as she shifted nervously from foot to foot, suddenly extremely embarrassed to be discussing this whole matter in front of Rumpelstiltskin.

Emma cleared her throat to try and collect herself, but when she finally spoke the sound was timid and a little shy. "It didn't work," she mumbled.

"Of course it didn't, dearie," Gold replied, now thoroughly exasperated with Emma's seeming denial. "Both parties of the kiss have to believe in their heart that the love is true in order for the curse to break… otherwise it would just be a regular ol' makeout session. If that weren't the case, every time your parents decided to peck each other on the lips a shock wave would roll through the town."

"So I have to convince Regina that she's in love with me?" Emma paled at the daunting task, "I can't do that! She'll laugh in my face and toss me over a hedge like my dad!"

"Well you're going to have to if you want to see Storybrooke remain in one piece, and I don't really feel like dying today, Ms. Swan. Do you?"

The blonde pulled at her curling tresses in a panic, "And how am I supposed to do that!?"

A lecherous grin swept over the imp's features, the man strangely calm for someone whose life was possibly being threatened, "Now if I have to tell you that, maybe you don't deserve her."

Emma glared at the pawnbroker until she realized that this was the end of her conversation; he was already strolling nonchalantly back to the case to retrieve the teacup he had previously put away.

The sheriff sighed heavily and ran a hand over her face, "So what do I owe you?"

"Nothing."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, "You said all magic comes with a price, Gold. So what's yours?"

"This advice comes free of charge."

"Why?"

Rumple snapped at her, "Don't needle generosity when it is willingly given, Ms. Swan. You already owe me one favor, would you like to owe me another?"

"No," she replied petulantly.

"Good. Then let's just say that you're not the only one who has a long-lost son to be reunited with. And I really don't want to be stuck to blow up in a town I can't leave before I find him."

Emma's brow crinkled and she was about to ask what exactly he meant by that when her phone vibrated in her pocket. It was Ruby.

"Hey Rubes, did something important happen? I'm kinda in the middle of something."

The voice on the other end was strained and punctuated by sharp, short gasps. "Emma, you need to get down to the diner right now!" Ruby panted. "Regina's going to destroy the town."


	9. Short-Circuiting the Mayor

**Chapter 9: Short-Circuiting the Mayor**

Regina had decided to walk the distance to Granny's diner in the hopes that the crisp Maine air might make her feel better and less… cursed. It turned out to not be one of her better ideas.

The brunette was glared at no matter where she went and the people's hateful glances and sidelong looks were really starting to wear on her. Yes, as the Queen she was used to it, but she wished that she wasn't.

So the mayor kept her eyes focused firmly in front of her as she paraded herself down the street and ignored the surrounding town the best she could. Occasionally she'd tug at the bottom of her blazer to straighten it or flick a casual finger over a strand of hair in order to appear like she couldn't be bothered and had infinitely better things that she could be doing with her time instead of what she was currently tending to.

Regina was glad that she had chosen to wear the suit that she did. _Keeping up appearances was key._

Undoubtedly rumors about last night had already begun to spread and when she entered the diner there was a split second where Regina wished that Emma hadn't chosen to meet somewhere so public. The diner was filled to the brim with customers (it was lunchtime after all) and the moment she stepped through the door the entire café ceased what they were doing and stared at her.

You could have heard a pin drop.

The mayor's face remembered to look mildly hesitant at the sudden stillness, but a darker part of her person was smiling maliciously inside. She was still able to silence a room with her mere presence even after all these years. That felt good.

Regina scanned the crowd: Emma wasn't there yet.

Granny glowered from behind the counter, "Get out of my establishment, witch."

The Queen rolled her eyes sardonically. "Or what? You'll launch another arrow at me?" she derisively replied. Her voice was cutting but it lacked some of its usual vehemence; Regina didn't feel like fighting today.

"I don't want to be forced to close up shop just because you have some vendetta to fill and you've decided that here would be a good place to do it."

"I'm not here to bother anyone. I can sit in the back if you prefer," Regina made to move but a rumbling growl made her pause.

Ruby, who had been strategically poised in the back stairway of the diner, emerged a little further into view. She was glancing nervously between Granny and the Queen, looking more on edge than usual. If she had been in her wolf-form, Regina was sure that her hackles would have been raised.

The wolf-girl bared her teeth slightly, "I can't let you do that."

Regina sighed and continued on in an almost bored tone, "You can put your guard dog away, Widow Lucas. I promised someone that I'd meet them here."

"Then you can wait for them outside."

The mayor's head snapped up in offense and the corners of her eyes tightened, an insulting rebuke ready to spring from her officiously practiced mouth. But she thought better of it. Even though under different circumstances she could have easily maimed them all with a snap of her fingers, Regina schooled her face back into one of polite disdain and bit her tongue. She knew when to pick her battles and this was one she could leave for another day. She had not come to cause a scene… this time.

"Fine," she hissed. _Mock civility was overrated._

Swallowing her pride but still holding her head high, the mayor did a stiff about-face and was on her way out the door when the patter of fast-moving feet on wooden stairs stopped her in her tracks.

"Ruby, can I have cinnamon in my hot chocolate? Pleeeeeeeease?"

Regina's heart ceased beating for a moment as she risked a glance over her shoulder.

"Mom?"

"Henry." The mayor's voice cracked with tears but she didn't let them fall. Her legs moved her forward desperately, eager to close the distance that had too long separated her from her son. She wanted nothing more than to wrap the small boy up in her arms and hug him so tightly she thought her limbs would break. Or at least until he complained that he couldn't breathe anymore.

But she couldn't touch him. Not without possibly hurting him anyway and the last thing Regina wanted to do was electrocute her son with a vicious green lightning bolt. So she settled for bending down in front of him like she always did, so that she could see at his level, and smiled a sad little smile of relief that he still cared about her.

"I'm here, Henry."

But then the bell chimed over the door and the Charmings walked in.

Mary Margaret and David had taken the time over the course of the previous evening to get properly incensed about what had transpired between them and unseated mayor of Storybrooke. So as soon as they spotted the Queen hovering over Henry, they were instantly unequivocally angry and just itching to pick a fight.

"Oh my god, Henry!" Snow shrieked. "Get away from her right this instant! She could hurt you!"

Regina bristled in matching anger and immediately stood, rising up to her full height so that she could look down on her petulant former step-daughter, "I would never hurt my own son."

"Oh really? So how'd that poisoned turnover work out for you?"

That was a low blow, even for Snow White. And especially so right at the beginning of their verbal brawl. Regina was caught-off guard by the Emma-like sass and momentarily found herself struck dumb by the plummeting feeling in her stomach at the memory. She faltered a little.

"You know perfectly well that it was not meant for him."

No, she had meant it for Emma, which she now felt equally as bad about.

Her fleeting pause gave Snow the space to continue, "You also said you wouldn't use magic."

Henry whirled accusingly on his mother, "You've been using magic?!"

Regina recovered quickly by glaring at the Charmings. "No, I haven't."

"Liar!" Snow gaped. The schoolteacher was in full-blown indignant royalty mode and she had tried to forgive Regina too many times in the past to let this particular grievance slide. "Then how do you explain this?"

Snow held up her palm like a death sentence, flourishing it high enough so that the entire diner could see. A few of the patrons gasped at the unveiling.

_So much for not causing a scene._

The pixie-haired woman was obviously no longer in pain, that much was evident by how she was casually throwing her hand about as she twisted it this way and that to show it off; but the gash was not pretty. The deep jade wound had crystalized somewhat, giving it an unnaturally slick sheen and the edges of the scorched flesh had bruised a deep purple as the skin around it started to heal.

"That was an accident," Regina stated blankly.

"An accident? Well it sure didn't feel like an accident when you were shooting bolts of lightning at us last night."

"I had no control over what was happeni–"

"And you expect us to believe that?" James interjected. "After all we've been through with you, after all the scheming and the lies and the wars, we know that you will stop at nothing to get your revenge on Snow White. Even when we offered you a second chance you still refused to take the high road!"

Even though the Queen's mask was calculatingly calm and in control, Regina could feel her blood boiling beneath the surface as her temper yearned to lash out.

"I promised Henry I wouldn't use magic and I haven't!" she spat.

A coffee mug on the back shelf behind the counter exploded in a deluge of green sparks.

Regina could feel everyone's eyes on her and she suddenly felt like a mouse caught in a maze. The mayor turned petrified eyes toward her scowling son, "I didn't do that."

"Really, Regina? That's what you're going with?" Snow grilled incredulously.

"If you mean the truth, then yes," Regina snapped.

"Henry, you have to believe me," the Queen pleaded, refocusing her attention on her son and once again sinking to his level, trying vainly to ignore Charming's words and the audience of lunch-goers eagerly eavesdropping on her conversation. "I didn't do it. Not on purpose anyway."

"What happened to you?" he asked, squinting cautiously at the skin around her fingertips which had started to glow a faint pale green.

Regina internally debated how much information was appropriate to give her 10-year-old son and finally settled on, "It's complicated."

"There's nothing complicated about it, Regina."

And David was butting in again. The mayor silently fumed, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from murdering the false king where he stood. There was a reason that peasants were not given power.

"I was there when you promised him you wouldn't do magic and yet here you are, lording your powers over the good people of Storybrooke, after magically attacking me and my wife last night. Is that why you came in here today? To terrorize everyone back into submission? I didn't think even you would stoop so low as to use Henry to manipul–"

"Oh will you shut up?!" Regina screeched, and in her anger a delinquent charge of energy fired out her body to scorch the ground at Charming's feet.

Mary Margaret screamed. "See! I told you!"

Regina's eyes widened. They had been baiting her… and she'd just fallen headfirst into their trap.

Henry was staring at this mother completely aghast. "Mom!"

"I didn't mean to do that," Regina started, chagrin washing over her face as she attempted to placate her son. She had raised him after all, and she knew all-too-well the self-righteous diatribe he had waiting for her.

_The trait must run in the family._

"You said you were trying to change!"

"I am, Henry!"

"You promised me you wouldn't do magic."

"I'm trying, but the curse– "

"You lied to me."

Regina's face fell and her heart sank under the admission of truth, the now-familiar dull ache of cold beginning to, once again, build deep within her pelvis.

"Henry, I didn–" she tried again.

"I don't believe you."

_And why should he? She was the Evil Queen after all._

Regina tried to reach for him but Henry avoided her touch like the plague, circling around towards Snow.

A deep crevice cracked across the middle of the glass case of pastries showcased at the front of the store.

"I don't trust you," he stated fiercely.

The rivet deepened and spider-like veins splintered outward, the fissures crawling over the surface at an alarming rate as Henry retreated even farther away from his adoptive mother.

"Henry please…"

"I don't want to see you anymore."

Regina's mouth dropped open in a silent gasp as her son's words sucker-punched her heart and the glass bowed under an invisible weight, shuddering just enough for the thin creaking sound of fragility to resonate through the air.

Then Snow was at his side, grasping onto his shoulder in a reassuring gesture while she thrust her chin smugly in Regina's direction. "Come on, Henry. You don't have to see her if you don't want to."

"We're not safe here," James added, stepping up beside his wife. "We should go find Emma."

"Yeah," Henry echoed as he turned to leave. "Let's go find my mom."

The display case shattered into a thousand unfixable slivers of glass, erupting onto the tile floor to scatter and shimmer there like shards of ice, the moment that her son, flanked by the couple she hated more than anything in this world or the next, turned his back on her and walked out the front door.

Wind from nowhere began to whirl through the air of the diner as Regina picked herself up off of the unforgiving floor. When she strode toward the door, mugs exploded and plates cracked in her wake. Patrons shook in their seats, their tables quaking in their moldings as the Queen swept passed them, and before she nearly ripped the handle off the entrance of the establishment, her eyes flashed a repugnant neon green.

Ruby was the only one who dared to watch the soon-to-be massacre firsthand, following the brunette, who was by now smoking profusely, out of the cafe and into the afternoon sun. The rest of the diner's customers pressed their grubby faces against the windows in the hope that they might catch a glimpse of what the Evil Queen was about to do.

The mayor ran out into the middle of the street to watch her son's form fading into the distance, grinning and chatting amicably with his idiotic grandparents.

Regina gasped for breath as her chest constricted around her heart, her ribcage squeezing at her organs like a clenched fist until she felt as though she'd just run the longest marathon of her life. She clawed at her clothes and tried to relieve some of the pressure but to no avail. The Queen could feel her own sadness starting to suffocate her; the curse swirling under her pores only to find escape in the luminous green cloud that had begun to hover around her like a sickness.

"Henry!" She tried to call out after him but her voice was hoarse and ragged and her cry caught in her throat like a whimper.

He didn't turn around.

The cold knotted in her stomach and twisted harshly, and for a second Regina actually thought she might vomit right there in the middle of the street. Her body was thrumming with energy as the curse picked up fuel and built steadily within her; the more she panicked, the more her skin glowed, until her fingertips were pulsing with an uncomfortably consistent neon green.

The wind that had followed her out of the diner picked up speed and whipped around her as if she was the eye of a tornado, the fog racing in circles and pitching her hair against her face until it stung.

The mayor's pulse was fluttering dangerously fast and she felt like she was close to hyperventilating, her pupils blown wide in dread as she sensed herself losing control. The curse stabbed at her insides and pinched sharply at her heart until the reverberating agony pounding through her limbs poured out of her hands in the form of green sparks, shooting through the air like glints from a fuse leading to a powder keg.

She pressed her palms together and brought them to her lips, simultaneously trying to keep the flickering pain from flying everywhere while also attempting to cover the groans of sorrow that were scratching up her vocal chords. She was not successful in either venture.

Buildings swayed in her vicinity and the rooftops closest to her vibrated so violently it was if an earthquake had shaken them. Her head throbbed and her hands shook and her heart was hammering so loudly that she was sure she wasn't the only one that could hear it drumming in her ears.

As she watched her son's tussled head shrink farther and farther away from her the pavement beneath her feet fractured. _She didn't even warrant a single backward glance._

Deathly cold once again, Regina's skin crackled with electricity and tiny currents spun out of her flesh to ignite in the cloud rushing around her, the small sparks gaining momentum in the tumultuous gathering storm until they looked like lightning crashing through the smoke.

_The one person who she couldn't afford to lose, she had finally lost. Henry wanted nothing to do with her._

The realization hit home as soon as she saw Henry smile up at the fairytale heroes next to him, take either one of their hands in his own, and continue his jovial jaunt down the street as one happy nuclear family.

Grief slammed through the Queen's system and her knees instantly threatened to buckle. Her hands alternated between clutching desperately at her blazer and digging roughly into her own hair, completely at a loss of what to do with themselves in her state of emotional duress.

Regina's shoulders trembled in despair and tears poured from her eyes as she lost all concern for who was watching her very public meltdown and she let herself cry, all the while the anger at herself for doing so rocketing through her veins like a freezing wildfire.

The curse was gorging itself off of her emotions like she was a gourmet ice cream sundae.

A crowd had started to form around her, shouting and blatantly pointing, but the edges of her vision had started to blur so the mayor couldn't quite be sure if she was making that up or not. Her sight was slowly becoming marred by an annoying emerald light that was making it increasingly difficult to see. She absently assumed that her eyes were probably starting to glow.

A bolt of energy shot through her and Regina thought she heard herself scream.

As her body began to shake uncontrollably from the sheer nauseating amount of dark magic that was surging through it, the brunette realized that she didn't have the strength to care anymore. She was numb; numb except for the all-consuming wrath, the overwhelming pain, and the absolutely unbearable sadness that had wrapped itself around her like the most stifling hug imaginable.

_All of that combined hurt didn't leave much room for anything else._

And with that last lucid thought the green completely overtook her vision and then Regina couldn't see anything anymore.


	10. Stopping the Storm

**Chapter 10: Stopping the Storm**

Emma was out of the shop before her synapses could even fire telling her to move; the gas pedal hitting the floor as Storybrooke flew past her window in a flurry of brilliant colors.

Her head was spinning almost as fast as her tires were as she raced towards the center of town.

_Okay. So, you are Regina's true love. In the grand scheme of things, that's really not the worst thing that could possibly happen. I mean, you already share a son with her, and the mayor is incredibly hot… ahh, but it's Regina! She kind of has a pension for killing people when she's angry. Or feeling threatened. Or when she thinks she's being made fun of. OH GOD. She's going to think I'm making fun of her. How am I going to tell her I'm in love with her without making her think I'm mocking her? Am I in love with her?_

_Being someone's true love is a mutual thing, right? So if it's true that she staved off the curse by saving me, she should love me on some level… Yes? Yes. But for the kiss to work I have to get her to acknowledge that feeling. Of love. …right, like that's ever gonna happen._

Emma raked her fingers through her hair and snarled when one of her digits snagged in a tangle. She let out one of those exasperated yells full of nonsensical noises that one always feels inclined to make when they are so overwhelmed that words no longer describe how they're feeling.

_The town is going to be demolished in an armageddon of green flames if I don't get this right. We'll all be turned to dust. People are going to die. I am going to die. Mary Margaret is going to die. Henry is going to die. Regina is going to die…_

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her heart was still thundering inside her chest.

_Calm down, Emma. You can do this. You have to do this. You're the Savior._

Deep down she knew she liked Regina, and apparently Regina liked her back, which despite all of the other shit that was going down right now made her feel a little giddy. Under different circumstances the blonde could honestly say that she would probably be dancing around her room in unrestrained joy at the confession.

But as it was, Gold had turned her feelings into a sort of job, and that complicated things. This tentative new relationship she had started with Regina was taking off slowly and she liked it like that. If Emma was going to fall in love she wanted it to happen naturally, not be forced upon her like some unwanted, predestined fate.

It felt an awful lot like someone asking for your hand in marriage immediately after the end of a somewhat pleasant first date. It was just a lot to take in, and felt very much like it was too much too soon.

And even if Regina did feel the same way, she would not take kindly to being used for a kiss, let alone used to save a town full of people that wanted her dead. Emma didn't even want to start to think about how the rest of Storybrooke's population would react to the Savior hooking up with the Evil Queen.

Her stomach did a somersault at the thought. _Hooking up with the Queen_. Her face flushed.

Emma turned on the siren to drown out the noise in her head. She had always been a 'figure it out when you get there' kind of girl any way.

* * *

The sheriff could see the tornado looming from two blocks away. It towered into the sky, eclipsing the sun in a column of green fumes that cast the entire street a hazy and forlorn shadow. The swirling mass of cloud crackled with sparks and jolts of neon lightning, lighting up the darkening afternoon sky with flashes of obscene brightness only to have them fade almost instantly, leaving the world even darker than before.

The squad car screeched to a halt in a stop that was sure to leave tire tracks imprinted on the road and then Emma was instantly sprinting headfirst into the fray, running full-throttle towards the sweeping current of jade.

A lurch on her arm nearly yanked her off her feet, "Whoa there Emma, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The blonde whirled around to see Ruby's panicked eyes staring back at her, "Why not?"

The wolf-girl glanced nervously into the riotous green cloud that was whipping the air about them in violent gusts.

"Is Regina in there?"

Ruby looked almost sorry, "Yeah, she is."

And then suddenly there was a crowd pressing in around her, everyone talking at once, so thankful that the sheriff was here to save the day.

"We have to stop her!" "Why is she doing this?" "Kill the Queen!" "Where have you been?" "You have to save us, Emma!"

The buildings shuttered, the pavement trembled, and the mob suffocated her with its mass: Marco, Archie, Granny, Jefferson, Mother Superior, each voice louder than the last, clamoring to be heard above the din. It seemed that the entire town had turned up to watch the festivities.

Emma bellowed over the uproar, "Okay! Okay! Everybody needs to calm down! I can only do one thing at a time people!" She turned her attention back to Ruby. "How long has she been like this?"

"A couple of minutes. But the storm just keeps getting bigger."

"We tried to rush her but it didn't work," Charming added slightly breathless as he edged in beside his daughter.

"The dwarves started an offensive line," Snow supplied, popping up beside her husband. "They charged the cloud hoping to overtake her by sheer numbers, but when they touched the smoke it sent them flying."

"Scattered 'em like bowling pins," Granny muttered.

Ruby piped up, "Leroy got the worst of it. He was flung so high he could have cleared the telephone wires."

"They're all alive, thank god," Snow finished, "but they're still pretty banged up. Dr. Whale had to cart them off to the emergency room."

Emma rounded on her mother, sick of talking about the foolhardy dwarves, "What set her off?"

Mary Margaret bulked at the intensity, completely caught off-guard. "What are you talking about?"

"Regina," Emma repeated. "What was it that set her off? Why is all of this," she gestured to the flurry of green zooming around behind her, "going on?"

"I have no idea. We had just left the diner when we heard this scream behind us and when we turned around she was sparking and generating this massive storm."

David nodded his agreement but Emma caught the apprehensive glint in Snow's eye. She scowled. "You saw her at the diner? What did you say?"

"Nothing that wasn't true," Snow insisted, but her face was guilt-ridden nonetheless. "She was threatening us with magic and we said that Henry wasn't safe with her."

Emma pushed the bile that was creeping up her throat back into her esophagus. Snow's choice of words was less than ideal. She was starting to see why someone might be tempted to curse these people, even if those people were her loving and doting parents.

"Did you really need to go out of your way to say that to her?"

Snow looked genuinely affronted by her daughter's veiled accusation, "She's said far worse to us in the past, Emma. Believe me; what I said was comparatively mild."

"But why does that make it okay to do the same to her? The blonde rubbed her forehead in exasperation. "What happened to our whole 'we will deal with Regina tomorrow' thing?"

"We were!"

"Not without me!" Emma exclaimed.

Snow tilted her head to the side as an uneasy expression crossed her face. "Why are you defending her?"

A street lamp suddenly exploded as a green surge of energy ricocheted out of the cloud and hit the metal pole. Sparks rained down as people screamed and ducked and a few of them ran for their homes, closing their windows and locking their doors behind their backs.

_As if that would help._

Emma had to get Regina out of there now; she was running out of time. The whole town was. But she couldn't risk telling any of them that… it'd just incite more panic. And panic led to chaos. And if the situation got any further out of hand than it already was there would be no help for any of them.

"But Mom," Henry interrupted her thoughts as he pushed himself to the front of the pack of fairytale characters, "Snow was totally right about her. She was making things explode and her fingers were green and–"

The blonde's eyes widened at the fact that he was even there, worry pushing to the forefront of her mind. "Not now, Henry."

"But Grandma's hand–"

"Henry! I said not now!" The sheriff snapped at her son and Henry shrunk back a little at her fierce tone; he had never seen Emma in actual 'mom mode' before and was surprised to see that it was remarkably similar to when Regina chastised him. 'Angry Mom' resembled 'Evil Queen' a lot more than he had originally thought.

The blonde was deadly serious and her tone had officially put an end to their conversation before it had even begun.

Emma scoured the crowd until she spotted Mr. Tillman situated somewhere towards the middle. "Michael!" she called out, waving him over.

"It's not safe here. I want you to round up all of the kids and take them to the hospital; it's far enough away that if anything should happen the blast might not hit you guys as hard." The mechanic's eyes widened in alarm but he nodded mutely and rushed back into the crowd, his head ducked low in search of children.

Emma crouched down in front of her son. "Henry, I need you to go with Michael and stay with Dr. Whale and all the other kids at the hospital until I come to get you."

Henry pouted and stamped his foot in a way she herself had done many times before, "But I want to stay with you."

The blonde shook her head, the wind picking up speed and blowing her curls into her face. "I know kid, but I need someone I can trust to be there to look out for everyone. Grace and Ava and Nicholas, and even Leroy, I'm sure they're all pretty scared right now, and I need you there to show them that everything's gonna be okay, alright?"

"Is everything going to be okay?"

Emma's face broke a little at the concerned hope she could see shining in his eyes. The hope he placed in her.

So she responded with a bravado she didn't feel in the slightest. "I sure hope so, kid. I'm gonna get your mom out of there if it's the last thing I do. After all, I am the Savior, aren't I?"

"Right! You can do anything!"

Emma stood but her stomach remained in her toes. "I'll come get you when everything's calmed down."

"You promise?"

"I promise," and after a swift side hug and a kiss in his hair, Henry disappeared into the crowd.

Then with a determined frown etched across her face, Emma did a quick one-eighty turn and marched for the eye of the storm.

"What are you doing!?"

Emma reluctantly stopped and turned around to see her mother racing after her, panic practically radiating from the tiny pixie-haired woman.

"I'm the only one that can stop her, Snow," the blonde sighed.

"That storm could kill you!"

"It won't."

"But how can you be sure?" Snow's eyes were terrified for her daughter's safety and her voice was bordering on near-hysteria.

Emma's face screwed up in an expression of helpless indecision before she suddenly just blurted it out, "I kissed her. On the porch. I kissed her and she woke up."

When Mary Margaret just kept staring at her, obviously not following her train of thought, Emma ducked in closer to the woman and continued in a low growl through teeth that refused to part, "You of all people should get what that means."

Snow's face morphed from concerned confusion to undiluted horror faster than Emma had expected. Her mother's mouth dropped open in disbelief, "Emma, if you're saying what I think you're saying–"

The sheriff shrugged as if to say, _What can you do?, _and raised her gaze to the crowd of people watching eagerly for her plan of attack.

"No one is allowed to follow me in here, you got that? You'll only get hurt," she announced to the surrounding onlookers. "And if I'm not back in ten minutes, run like hell."

And then Emma charged headfirst into the storm.

* * *

Emma careened through the speeding smoke, squinting her eyes to try and see through the rapidly thickening green, until she finally could make out the vague outline of the mayor situated in the middle of the tempest.

Regina's arms were flung out to her sides like a crucifix and her head was tilted back on her neck at an odd angle, as if she was half-looking up at the storm she was creating above her. Sparks rolled off of her skin in waves as electrical currents snapped and popped over her form, her body shaking violently with the effort to remain standing. Her flesh was almost glittering with how much magic was flooding through it.

"Regina!"

The wind was whipping past her ears so fast that it was all she could hear. Emma shook her head to try and rid herself of the infernal rushing sound it was creating.

She ran towards the brunette as she tried again. "Regina!" Still no response.

Standing in front of her now, Emma could tell that the mayor was barely conscious. Her feet were rooted to the ground like someone being electrocuted, her body quaking and sizzling with strung-out magical fumes as the green pulse within her increased its internal rhythm. Emma could literally see the curse racing by under the thin membrane of the brunette's skin and the sudden strangled noise that came out of Regina's throat made the blonde's head snap up in surprise. Her face was contorted with pain and her eyes were a blazing neon green, unseeing and emotionless as they littered her flawless olive flesh with rivers of tears.

Standing there, looking at the devastated Queen, Emma had never felt more helpless in all her life.

_What on earth was she going to do?_

* * *

The world was green. Everything was green and pain and hurt and sorrow and sadness. Endless suffering and depthless rage choked and churned around her organs, riling up her emotions and goading them to spill out of her heart only to have the curse rip them away, leaving her feeling as empty and hollow as an unused tomb.

Regina gasped and shuttered as the curse continued to suck her dry, feeling as though someone was tearing out bits of her soul as the little pokes and twinges gave way to a blinding pain that stabbed and kicked at her emotions like she was a punching bag in a varsity gym. Her fingers twitched and her skull pounded, her veins seeming to freeze with hatred as her hope shredded like tissue paper in the vortex of wind rushing past her aching skin.

The curse beat mercilessly at her psyche until it was battered and bloodied and bruised, and she found herself giving up the fight against it as another crushing wave of agony finally forced her mind to flutter and dwell on all of the wrong she had ever done or caused in her lifetime.

Hundreds of faceless people crumpled to the ground again and again as she tore heart after heart after heart out of their bloodless chests to fill her ever-growing vault of vengeance. Misery flooded her synapses as she was rewarded with Graham's anguished expression. Her father's pitying gaze. Daniel's lifeless eyes. She relived empty castle corridors and Henry refusing to hug her back infused with haunting magic lessons from Gold and countless disappointed words from her mother, until the memories muddled together in a non-consequential blur.

_She was tied to a post in the middle of a palace courtyard with nothing but a measly shift to hide her humiliation under._

_She was mounted atop __Rocinante__, her battle armor cloaking her form as she skewered men left and right, their blood dripping a blackened crimson on her blade._

_She was powerless against Rumpelstiltskin as he whispered 'please' and walked away unscathed._

_She was banishing her mother through a mirror on her wedding day._

_She was trying not to cry under the weight of an aging, infatuated king._

Her heart was breaking as she tore down Henry's castle, soaring with sickening satisfaction as Snow's face fell slack, choking on a chunk of apple, then twisting with horror once again as she entrapped her son in a tree like Cora had done to her so many years before.

Each memory dragged her down deeper and deeper into the cursed abyss until she was drowning.

A new pulse had begun to throb in her chest outside of her own heartbeat, growing colder and more painful by the minute as an unseen pressure began to push at the undersides of her skin. Her mutinous body ached and screamed against the unknown malice but it made no difference; it seemed as though all of this torture was coming to a point and she was flying towards the apex, hurtling herself at it with her arms wide open and praying it would take her. Anything to make this wretched pain disappear.

If she had been thinking clearly the Queen probably would have realized that she was about to explode: her life was flashing before her eyes.

A voice whispered through the air like a phantom, so soft against the noise of the wind that she wasn't sure she'd heard it.

Then the memories were back.

_Henry was inviting her to lunch and then never showing, Daniel was pleading with her to end his life, Henry was lying in a hospital bed in the coma that she had put him in._

The voice cut through the pain again, a little louder this time. She strained her ears to hear what it was saying.

It was saying her name.

"Regina."

Her vision swam.

_Emma was punching her in the graveyard, Emma was hacking up her honey crisp tree, Emma was nearly choking her in the back room of the hospital._

_Emma was coming back for her in the fire, Emma was smiling at her as she climbed out of the mineshaft, Emma was not wearing pants when she came to drop off her token basket of apples._

She pushed the hallucinations back and tried to search around her for the source of the voice but she came away wanting. She had no idea where she was. Everything was green.

Green pain. Green wind. Green sparks. Green eyes.

_Green eyes?_ She'd know those eyes anywhere.

They blinked. They looked a little watery.

The voice cracked. "Regina. Please come back."

There were eyes and a voice. And hands. Someone was holding her hands.

And suddenly her hands were very, very warm.

Her palms tingled and jittered with sensation before the feeling shot up to her elbows, and then it was everywhere at once: bursting in her shoulder blades and erupting in her neck, behind her ears and in her knees and her thighs and her heart, melting away the anger and the garish numbness with its blinding light until she almost felt human again.

Regina blinked once and the owner of the hands came into focus.

Emma was poised in front of her like one would imagine the Savior would be; intense and unwavering, and fiercely protective. The brunette watched in awe as magic poured from her fingertips into the pale hands clutching her own and Emma's skin also started to glow a brilliant neon green.

Stray tremors from the ground beneath their feet vibrated through both of their bodies as the sheriff began to absorb the storm Regina had created.

It was as if Emma was a black hole that had just exploded in the middle of a galaxy filled with dying stars, and only she had the ability to wrest all of the pain and misery from the heavens and put it back where it belonged.

She looked terrifyingly lovely basking in all of that power.

Her blonde hair levitated and sparks snapped between their hands as the wind that had once been circling around them now funneled in at a frightening velocity as if someone had pulled the plug on a kitchen drain. The flashing light emanating from the cloud pulled the sheriff's cheekbones into sharp relief and showcased the tightening tendons in her neck as she fought to control the immense amount of magic that was rapidly pummeling her being, her arms straining through the onslaught as her fingers clenched around the Queen's. But through it all her steady eyes never strayed from Regina's face.

Regina thought she had never looked more beautiful.

Eventually the wind began to settle. The sparks ceased and the lightning vanished. The buildings around them ended their groaning, the mayor's head stopped pounding, and the green glow dissipated from both of the women's flesh; which left the pair standing in the faintly swirling after-mist, still clinging desperately to one another's hands.

Regina was immensely thankful for the little privacy the hovering emerald fog afforded them for the time being. For a minute she could do nothing else but stare at the blonde across from her.

"Emma," she breathed. Those green eyes were like a tornado all on their own, daring to swallow the mayor into their depths.

"Hey," Emma replied somewhat sheepishly and just as breathlessly as Regina.

"You came for me."

"I told you I would."

Regina's bewildered expression at the simple declaration spoke volumes more than actual words could ever give meaning to. The brunette's lip began to quiver anew and she sunk her teeth into it to try to get it to stop. Emma's heart broke a little bit more at the sight.

The Queen's hands were shaking in her own but the blonde simply tightened her grip. There was no way in hell she was letting go of this woman now.

"Tell me what happened."

Regina's shoulders trembled in her effort not to sob openly as she desperately tried to regain some of her composure, but her voice hitched and hiccupped with tears that had never really stopped falling as she tried to speak. "Henry said… he didn't… want to… see me anymore," the brunette sniffled.

Emma's eyes darkened with a rage she wasn't used to feeling. Henry had been getting away with saying whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, for far too long without suffering any of the consequences. The kid needed to learn to think about other people's feelings before he spoke.

Wanting to be a part of Henry's life did not constitute phasing out his other mother. Emma wasn't here to replace Regina; she was here to become part of a family.

The thought of being a real family with Regina and Henry sent an unexpected wave of heat flooding through her.

"He's ten, Regina. He's a smart kid, but he's also got a huge freaking chip on his shoulder. He thinks he's the bee's knees ever since he convinced a town of people they were cursed _and_ on top of that he's pre-hormonal, which means that everything is either the worst or the best thing that has ever happened to him. The kid doesn't see the gray, just the black and white. I'll talk to him and we'll get this sorted out; he'll come around, you'll see."

"He hates me."

"No, he doesn't."

"Yes, he does. He hates me."

"He loves you, even if he thinks he doesn't right now. You raised him for ten years, how could he hate you?

"But I'm the Evil Queen."

"And I'm the fucking Savior for god sakes! So what!? I'm also human. And so are you. And so is Henry. And humans make mistakes. And when he realizes how much he's hurt you I am sure that this will be something he regrets saying."

Emma released her right hand from the confines of Regina's fingers and gently brought it up to the Queen's tear-stained cheek and brushed the excess water from her eyes. She left her palm against the soft olive skin and the brunette nuzzled into it ever so slightly, her eyelids fluttering closed for a fleeting second at the contact.

Emma's voice sliced through their brief moment of intimacy. "You do know that I meant it as a joke, right?"

The mayor's spine stiffened, immediately defensive. "To what are you referring Ms. Swan?" she asked crisply. Her face was hardening by the second; her vulnerability limping to hide itself behind her eyes.

But Emma's hand trailed tenderly down her neck until it was resting at the base against her shoulder, the blonde's thumb lazily drawing lines up and down the Queen's throat, as if memorized by the fact that Regina was still really there in front of her.

The corners of Emma's lips tried to twitch up into a playful smirk but she found herself unable to meet the Queen's penetrating gaze, so instead she watched her thumb caress the skin covering the mayor's vocal chords as she mumbled her words, "You know, when I told you could blow up the town in the morning, I meant it as a joke. I didn't think you'd actually try it."

Emma glanced up at the brunette through her eyelashes and managed a weak grin to show that she was trying to make her laugh.

Regina coughed out a feeble chuckle that could have been mistaken for a sob, but a reluctant levity twinkled in her chocolate eyes and Emma let out a smile of minor victory in return.

But their slight reprieve from reality was shattered as a verbal uproar swept over them like a tidal wave; the mist had started to clear and already disintegrated to about their knees, leaving the pair exposed to the public eye.

"There she is!" "Get her!" "This was the last straw!" "Make her pay!" "She has the Savior!"

It took a second for Emma to realize that the surrounding Storybrooke residents were not concerned about Regina's fate in the slightest; they were just worried about their own. And now that they were sure that the initial threat to their happiness had passed, they wanted her blood as payment for their fright.

She glanced at Regina, and even though her posture was still ramrod straight and her jaw was clenched as usual, the blonde could tell that she was not okay. The brunette's eyes betrayed her panic as her breathing shallowed to the top of her chest and her hand nearly squeezed the blood out of Emma's fingers.

So Emma did the only thing that felt right.

She took a deliberately protective step in front of Regina and pulled the brunette in behind her back, effectively using her own body as a shield against the enraged horde of fairytale characters that was currently converging on the Savior and the Evil Queen.

Squaring her shoulders, Emma hollered out over the crowd in what she hoped sounded like a commanding voice, "Stop! Stop it all of you! Nobody is allowed to get any closer than where you are right now, do you hear me? No one is going to touch a fucking hair on her head."

"After all she's done, we deserve retribution!" Jefferson demanded.

"This is just one crime on a list of many!" Geppetto chorused.

"Our streets aren't safe with her around!" the Blue Fairy echoed.

Emma's voice rumbled low in her throat as she spat back, "I know full well what she's done, but I'm not about to leave her here to get slaughtered by you all. I'm taking her back to the mayoral mansion, _alone_, where we're… meaning she and I… are going to figure out what to do about this whole mess in peace. Like civilized adults."

The uprising started again: "But what about the children!?" "I want her locked her up!" "Push her over the border!" "Make her eat one of her own poison apples!"

"Oh my god, are you serious?!" the blonde screamed over the clamor, effectively silencing the heated throng once again. "I am tired of an angry mob forming every time someone in this place does something someone else has a problem with. This is not how normal people deal with their issues!"

"But Emma you can't just–"

Emma rounded on Mary Margaret with fire blazing in her eyes, "Oh but that is where you're wrong! I can just. I am the Sheriff of this town and as such the protection and safety of Storybrooke falls under _my_ jurisdiction, not yours. So yes, I _will_ be doing this my way, and you all are just going to have to deal with it."

The sheriff glared at the crowd, daring them to question her authority. When nobody moved she nodded affirmatively to herself as a kind of job-well-done and tugged on the brunette's hand. "Come on, Regina."

And with that Emma stormed off towards her squad car, dragging a completely dumbfounded queen behind her.

* * *

Regina was more than a little shell-shocked. Not only had she had three near-death experiences within the last thirty-six hours, one of which was not even two minutes ago, but Emma had just defended her in front of the entire town. Emma had taken her side over her friends, her neighbors, and her parents… just to keep her safe. The brunette couldn't recall a time when anyone had ever taken her side before and she found that knowing she had the Savior's support left her feeling slightly lighter than air.

If the mayor hadn't had known any better, she would have sworn that she saw Emma's fingertips begin to glow a faint golden color, nearly the same shade as the blonde's own curly hair, as she belittled the small-minded town citizens. But given her current dazed mindset Regina didn't quite trust her eyes just yet, and after a quick blink whatever it was that she'd thought she saw was gone.

But even so, Regina couldn't seem to tear her gaze away from Emma's hand: it hadn't let go of hers since the moment she had opened her eyes.


	11. Uncloaked Confessions

**Chapter 11: Uncloaked Confessions**

The silence in the car was charged with unspoken words but neither woman dared to break the unsettling quiet that had permeated the enclosed space. There were just too many things that could make this situation awkward and it was better just to ignore their existence all together.

Like the fact that Regina was wearing Emma's jacket.

Just as the pair had reached the squad car, the unfortunate freezing aftershocks of the curse had started to plague Regina's form, wracking her with violent shivers that made her stumble a little and fall into the side of the vehicle for support. Emma had wordlessly shrugged off her jacket and hung it around the Queen's shoulders as if she had done this every day of her life, fitting it snugly against the brunette's blazer and rubbing her biceps briefly in an attempt to restart her circulation. The blonde had then opened the car door for her and with an extended hand, ushered the mayor regally into the passenger seat.

They were also blatantly ignoring the expressions on each other's faces.

Emma, for her part, was doing her best not to notice the soft hiccupping sniffles that the brunette was trying to stifle as she attempted to collect herself. Most of them were clouded by the mayor's chattering teeth, but occasionally a rebellious emotion would crack through her voice and Regina's eyes would flick anxiously towards the sheriff as she tried to steel her face back into one of mild disinterest. Emma never looked.

Likewise, Regina was actively trying not to watch as the blonde tirelessly worked her jaw into a frenzy, surely grinding her teeth into a dusty paste. She certainly wasn't aware of the internalized rage gleaming in the sheriff's eyes as she stared intently out of the front windshield, just like she refused to notice how tightly Emma's fingers were gripping the steering wheel, her knuckles bleaching white in the effort to hold in her fury.

And they were most definitely ignoring the fact the Emma was still holding Regina's hand.

The blonde's left hand was busy driving while the mayor's right was content to clutch a leather coat that was not her own about her neck, but it seemed as though the other two had found each other again: Emma's stretching gracefully over the top of Regina's until their fingers were loosely laced together, the sheriff's thumb tracing aimless patterns across the brunette's skin.

Yes. They were definitely ignoring _that_.

* * *

Regina unlocked the door to the mansion and the deadbolt sounded like thunder in the echoing entryway, but the mayor pretended that she wasn't as on edge as she felt and sauntered through the entrance with purpose. The brunette slid the blonde's jacket off of her shoulders in one smooth movement and hung it in the closet like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She couldn't decide whether to feel appalled or overjoyed at the domesticity of it all.

Emma shut the front door and Regina closed the closet. And then they just stood there. Staring at each other.

Neither of them had any idea what to say.

_What do you say to the woman who stole your son from you and then saved your life? How do you say thank you without feeling like you owe her something in return?_

_What do you say to the woman who has hated you since the moment her son picked you over her? How can you say I'm falling in love with you without her feeling like its some cruel sort of joke?_

Emma was very aware of the fact that she had not been invited into the mayor's house, but her jacket had been hung up and she hadn't been chastised for anything yet, so the blonde assumed that this was Regina's way of accepting her public proposal to talk. After all, she'd apparently been willing to show up at the diner to meet with Emma the first time…

But sometimes Regina's signals were hard to read. Like now for example.

The brunette was just standing there with her arms crossed over her stomach, looking unsure and impatient, her face slowly starting to cloud over as she sunk into her own undoubtedly morbid thoughts. Her mouth scowled and her eyebrows pinched together as she stared off into the air, obviously envisioning something that wasn't directly in front of her.

Emma shuffled her feet. _Well this is awkward._

Unable to take the silence anymore, the sheriff blurted out the first thing that came into her mind, "I talked to Gold."

Regina's eyes immediately cleared as they whipped up to meet Emma's, "And?"

The brunette replied with a little more rudeness than was probably due. She was feeling uncomfortably exposed in the sheriff's presence, and whenever that happened 'angry' was always her fail-safe fallback.

But Emma took the retort in stride. The mayor had just been through a harrowing experience and some residual terseness was allowed. _And who was she kidding? It was Regina. The woman was always terse._

"He said that the curse is going to make you explode and destroy the town if we don't stop it."

"Marvelous. And how do we do that?"

Emma gulped and shoved her hands in her pockets. "Your true love has to kiss you."

Regina's unexpected laugh barked out of her like something foreign, the sound holding none of the humor that was supposed to adorn it. "Oh, that's rich! I'd start packing my bags now if I were you Ms. Swan, because I have no true love. Everyone who has ever loved me has died; and most of them very violently. So good luck with that."

Emma could see the sadness prickling behind the Queen's eyes as she tried to wave off the information.

The Savior muttered at the floor, "What about me?"

"What about you?" the Queen snapped back.

When the blonde didn't respond and just continued to stare sheepishly at the ground, Regina finally registered what she was insinuating and sobered instantly. "You think that you're my true love?"

The Queen was met with wide, nervous eyes. "Well, Gold kinda mentioned that I might be, seeing that you saved me from the well and then a death curse couldn't kill you. Something about true-love-magic-protection and stuff, and being that it had to do with me…" Emma tripped over her tongue, wishing vainly that the ground would swallow her whole and save her from her own blushing face as she resumed, "The only catch is that we have to be in love with each other for the kiss to work."

Regina stuttered like a school girl that had just had her secret crush announced to the class, "That… that is absurd."

"Is it really though?"

"Yes. It is. I don't even like you," Regina replied curtly, and she folded her arms defiantly back across her chest.

Emma just stared at her. "Seriously? That's what you're going with?"

"Yes."

"I think you're lying."

"I'm not. You irritate me to no end."

"Well right back at you, Your Majesty, but that doesn't mean I want to let the town rip you to shreds."

"I can't say the same for you."

"I think you would."

"Excuse me?"

"I think you would. Save me that is."

"I most certainly would not."

"You'd leave me to fend for myself in the middle of a bloodthirsty mob?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "In this hypothetical situation I'm sure that for whatever reason said mob was coming after you that you'd done something to deserve it."

Emma grinned smugly, "Are you sure you don't like me? Not even a little bit? Because I'm pretty sure you let me sleep with you in your bed last night."

The look of horror on Regina's face indicated that this was the absolute worst thing that she could have possibly said in that moment.

"That was for medical reasons!" the brunette shrieked.

"Medical reasons?" Emma almost laughed. Thank god she didn't.

"And how dare you throw that back in my face when you promised not to ever speak of it again!" The Queen bore down on the blonde, all venom and vitriol, her snarling lips too close to Emma's to be coincidental. "I am cursed after all. Or do you need a reminder of that fact?"

But the sheriff merely cocked a smarmy eyebrow in response. "I'm just saying you can't hate me that much because no matter how mad you're pretending to be right now, your curse hasn't thrown a lightning bolt at me yet."

Regina paused for a moment, genuinely surprised at this realization and little embarrassed by her outburst. But she recovered quickly, setting her jaw and snorting derisively in the blonde's direction, "Maybe the curse will disintegrate by itself. Or maybe I'm learning to control it. Either way, your… _services_… will not be necessary. I trust you can see yourself out." And with that she turned away from the sheriff and began pacing the length of her foyer.

Emma followed behind the mayor a few steps as if drawn by an invisible rope tied around her waist, not wanting to crowd the woman but at the same time not wanting to let her out of her sight. "Oh come on Regina! You know that's bullshit. The curse won't just lift itself and _we_ won't even be able lift it unless we both believe that we're each other's true love. What would it hurt to try it once?"

"There must be some other way."

Emma threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Thanks. You're really stroking my ego here. I feel like a million bucks right now."

The brunette rounded on her, her fists clenching at her sides as she leveled Emma with a glare that should have sent her running for the hills. "Well, it's not like I picked you to be my true love, did I Sheriff? If you recall, I did try to kill you once before."

For the sake of trying to win over the Queen, Emma chose not to mention her Freudian-slip in referring to the blonde as her true love. She just smirked to herself instead.

"Well if it's any consolation, _Madam Mayor_," Emma over-pronounced the words just because she knew it grated on Regina's nerves, "over the last couple of months I've thought about killing you a lot too. You just happened to get to the execution stage faster than I did."

Emma grinned as she closed in on the Queen's personal space, "But you're not trying to kill me now, are you?"

"Don't tempt me, dear," Regina intoned darkly, and for a moment her eyes flashed with a gleeful malice that made Emma question her motives. The brunette caught the brief hesitation and sneered in her minor victory.

Her voice was syrupy sweet and just reeked of condescension when she purred, "And quite frankly I find your weak excuse to make out with me just as crude as I find you. So I suggest that you go find someone else to fulfill that diluted fantasy of yours before I really get angry."

It was the self-satisfied smirk that Regina tacked onto the end of her comment that did it.

Emma's own anger bristled as the mayor's insults crawled under her skin and pricked at the backs of her hands. "Fantasy? Well someone thinks rather highly of themselves. Believe me, being shot down by you has never been something on my bucket list."

The blonde was fuming in spite of herself. She couldn't help it: Regina just knew all of her buttons to push and she did so with alarming dexterity, taking each of Emma's insecurities out of its box to poke and prod at it until it screamed. She made remaining on the side of good a constant struggle.

"God, it's a miracle that I continue to save your ass at all."

"I never asked you to save me," Regina replied bitterly. Emma swore she could almost see the Queen's walls shooting up in front of her eyes as the brunette fought to close herself off from the situation.

"No, you didn't. You're a conniving, egotistical, self-serving bitch that has made my life a living hell since I got here. But I keep doing it, and will keep doing it, until I physically can't do it anymore."

"–you're a little bit of a masochist aren't you–"

"And you wanna know why? Because I care about what happens to you! There, I said it. I care about you. Henry would be devastated if you disappeared and I would… miss you too. And if you think that makes me weak or stupid… fine. But in the long run, I'm just saying, you could do a whole lot worse than me, lady."

"And just what is it about you that I'm supposed to think is so fantastic, Ms. Swan? Is it your gross affinity to drown everything you eat in cinnamon or the way you manage to trip over something every two seconds? Or maybe it's your sparkling criminal record that I'm supposed to find intriguing?"

Emma was pretty much yelling into Regina's face now, "There are lots of things that are great about me! Or I don't know, how about we start with the fact that no one can rip my heart out of my chest! Hm!? That's pretty frickin' cool if you ask me! So yeah, at least I never have to worry about your dear old mom doing that!"

"A pity really when I think about it."

"Oh come on Regina!" Emma practically screamed. "We have a kid together!"

"Henry is _my_ son, not yours!" the brunette bellowed back.

"Ugh! Of course that's what you took from what I said. Jesus, you are so infuriating!"

"As are you!"

Emma was about ready to yank her hair out. "I mean, it's just one kiss! Are you really gonna risk everyone's life, Henry's life, just because you're afraid of kissing me?"

And there it was. A glimmer of hope. _Was the mayor actually blushing?_

So the blonde tried a new tactic. "Or are you just afraid that it won't work?"

The silence that followed Emma's words was so icy that it physically stung her skin.

"I said no, Ms. Swan. End of discussion," Regina growled.

"Why? What harm could it possibly do? Best case scenario, the curse ends and you don't explode. Worst case scenario we… well… we just…" Emma floundered for words she didn't have and stopped. Her brain didn't really see a downside to kissing Regina. Worst case scenario their relationship stayed exactly the same, just with one misguided kiss under their belts.

"We just what, Ms. Swan?"

Regina and she were standing too close together. The brunette was livid; her incensed chest was heaving slightly in anger and her eyes were glistening in a silent challenge as she clenched her fists at her sides. Emma just wanted to kiss the frown right off of her face.

So she did.

Emma launched forward and kissed the Queen squarely on the lips. Regina squeaked a little in surprise and shoved the blonde off of her. "Just what do you think you're–?"

The sheriff crashed her mouth against Regina's again, grabbing at the mayor's blazer around her waist and pulling the insufferable woman into her body. Regina jerked back for a second time, albeit with a little less force than before, and pushed tersely at Emma's biceps.

"See, I told you, nothing happ–"

Regina should have seen the next kiss coming by now, but she didn't stop it fast enough. Emma's lips were moving over hers once more and the mayor found herself relenting to the onslaught ever-so-slightly, if only for a moment. A traitorous moan hummed in the back of her throat as the sheriff took her bottom lip between her teeth and sucked softly on the painted flesh.

"Ms. Swan!" Regina exclaimed a little breathlessly, breaking their kiss with much more willpower than she would have thought necessary. This time she didn't even bother to push the blonde away, instead settling for throwing her hands up between their torsos as a blockade.

She stared at the Savior incredulously, "It didn't work."

Honest green eyes bored into her soul, darkening at the brink with a wild edge of lust as her mouth pulled up at the corner, forming into an irritably mischievous grin. "I know," Emma drawled.

"Then why were you still trying to kiss me?"

"Because I didn't want to stop."

Regina felt something inside her shatter. In spite of everything that she had put this poor woman through, Emma still wanted her. She wasn't shrinking away from her in fear. She wasn't using her emotions as a power play. The blonde had no ulterior motive… other than she wanted to kiss the Queen.

The sensation of being wanted was magnetizing and hypnotic, and Regina craved to drown in the feeling. Longed for it with the essence of her very being. To just be swept up and carried away by the strong jaw and toned biceps of Emma Swan.

Any rational protest she had been concocting died in her throat as she collided with the Savior. Her hands were everywhere as she tried to consume the blonde, digging into hipbones and running up her back, pushing and pulling in the rash desire to feel skin as she balled the black tank top in her fists.

Emma gasped against her lips as she returned the assault with vigor, her fingers weaving through ebony locks to tug and scrape along the Queen's scalp, pulling the brunette with her as Regina backed the sheriff into the desk perched against the wall. It caught Emma right underneath her ass and she suddenly found herself sitting on it, with the mayor's body pressed firmly between her legs as her blood-red fingernails dragged themselves over denim-encased thighs.

The blonde's head fell back as Regina laid waste to her jaw, peppering it with wet, open-mouthed kisses before trailing them down the long column of her neck to her clavicle, biting and sucking with such force that Emma was sure that the Queen was leaving marks. A needy moan escaped her as Regina's tongue circled the hollow at the base of her throat and her fingers clenched harder into the brunette's hair, holding her wantonly against her purpling skin.

"Oh my god, Regina," Emma managed to breathe.

The Queen suddenly jumped back from her like she had been burned by hot coals. Terror tugged at her features as her brain seemed to catch up to what her body was doing.

"I can't do this." Regina backed away from her, shaking her head as if trying to clear the cobwebs from it. "Not again, I… I just can't."

The brunette turned away from Emma and walked further into the foyer, her fingers pacing over her lips as they tried to memorize the imprint the blonde had left on them.

"What am I doing?" she repeated more to herself.

Emma saw the panic in her eyes, heard it in her voice; that survival instinct to flee, to leave before you were left, the predisposition to cut yourself off before you got in too deep. Hell if she wasn't feeling it herself but Emma remained resolute. She was not going to run from this.

It felt too good, too right, to give it up.

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was just something about Regina that made her want to protect the brunette no matter what. The woman was more than capable of taking care of herself, but all Emma wanted to do in that moment was wrap her up in her arms and shield her from everything that had ever hurt her, from anything that had ever made her lose her trust.

_Maybe that was what true love was… finding someone irresistible in spite of all their flaws._

Emma approached the brunette's back cautiously, lightly brushing her waist with her fingertips. Regina flinched at the contact but didn't pull away, so the blonde entangled her limbs around the Queen from behind and rested her hands on the taut abdomen hidden by a button-up shirt. She tugged the Queen's form against her own frame until the brunette was leaning fully against her chest. Then Emma placed her forehead on Regina's shoulder and sighed.

They stayed like that for a long moment. Emma didn't rush her; she didn't even know if words were needed. But if they were, Emma would wait for Regina to decide.

The mayor lightly cleared her throat before speaking. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, Emma, I just… I don't know how to love very well," she murmured softly, and the sheriff could actually feel the weight of the words pulling down the Queen's posture.

"You know," Emma mumbled into Regina's shoulder, placing a quick kiss there before she continued, "_love_ is a pretty big word. It's something that I don't say unless I really mean it, and sometimes I don't even say it then either. But right now there's too much pressure, with the curse, and the town, and for us to be in love… so let's just talk about something else. Something not as serious."

She gave the brunette in her arms a gentle, reassuring squeeze before she took a deep breath to settle her own nerves, swallowing down the fear of rejection as she tried to summon the courage to say what she wanted to. She needed to be brave so that Regina could be brave.

The fact that Regina wasn't looking at her with those huge soulful brown eyes helped to feed her confidence a little. Whenever she felt the Queen staring at her she could never remember what she wanted to say.

"I like you," Emma admitted and cringed as she waited for the expected barrage of insults to come hurtling her way. But instead she felt the slight shiver that skittered up the mayor's spine at her words. So she said it again, "I like you. A lot."

A huffy voice came from in front of her. "You're just saying that because you want to save the town."

"Nope. The town has nothing to do with how I feel. Curse or no curse, I still like you."

Emma began to slowly kiss up the mayor's back, pressing her lips into the olive skin with every untold confession.

One on her shoulder blade, covered by the swanky blazer. "I like how you challenge me."

One at the juncture of her neck. "How you call me on my shit just like I call you on yours."

The next one over her pulse point. "I like how you fight for what you want…"

She stayed where she could feel Regina's pulse fluttering under her skin and sucked, loving it when the brunette's breath hitched in her throat. "…and how you refuse to back down."

She flicked her tongue lightly over the mark she'd just made. "I like how much you love Henry and always try to do right by him."

Regina's resulting scoff at this particular admission made Emma smile against the mayor's neck. "I also like how you don't know how to take a compliment." She bit down where she had just left off and the brunette trembled.

"And despite what you may think," the blonde kissed up higher as she continued her assent, "I actually do like how arrogant you are."

She scraped her teeth over Regina's skin and goosebumps erupted over the mayor's flesh, "Even if it usually pisses me off."

Emma nipped and nibbled leisurely on the Queen's throat, lingering over the delicate skin until Regina's palms were clutching madly at the arms still clasped around her waist. A breathy whimper escaped the entrapped brunette and Emma smirked devilishly as she pressed forward.

"I like your eyes." Kiss. "And your lips." Kiss. "And your ass." Kiss. "And your sexy voice…"

Emma kissed the spot behind the mayor's ear before ghosting her hot breath over its shell in a whisper, "And to top it all off… I _really_ like kissing you."

Unable to endure the delicious torture any longer, Regina twisted in the sheriff's arms and pulled the blonde into a dizzying kiss so full of desperate passion that when they eventually broke for air they both were a little light-headed. The brunette claimed her lips again and again as she wove her fingers through the curls at the base of Emma's scalp, holding the sheriff to her so fiercely that one might have thought that she was the only thing anchoring the Queen to the ground.

Regina's voice was hoarse when she finally rested her forehead against the blonde's and whispered five perfect little words against Emma's still slightly parted lips, "I really like you too."


	12. Apples Dipped in Cinnamon

**Chapter 12: Apples Dipped in Cinnamon**

_This had escalated quickly. _

Emma didn't remember how she'd gotten up the stairs. Didn't recall taking off her boots. And she didn't know how, but Regina had managed to rid her of her skin-tight jeans and she was now clad only in her underwear from the waist down.

_What clever little fingers the Queen had. _

Emma did however remember with vivid clarity how she'd ripped the mayor's blazer from her body and shucked it over her shoulder before reaching around the brunette and grabbing that delicious ass of hers with both hands.

She also remembered the delightful moan that move had produced.

_Priorities._

The rest was just a crazy lust-filled blur of high heels being kicked off, stumbling across the hardwood before feeling the carpet give way underneath their toes, lips smashing, hips grinding, fingers scratching, hands, flesh, buttons, zippers, hot breath and cold air on newly exposed skin, scraping teeth and heavy breathing…

Emma threw the mayor into her closing bedroom door and the brunette's back imprinted violently against the surface, forcing the air out of her lungs in an abrupt exhalation. Emma clawed at the Queen's clothes, fumbling with the buttons of Regina's shirt in her impatience to see all of that delectable olive flesh that had been haunting her dreams as of late. She undid just enough for one smooth shoulder to break free of its confines before she moved her kissing attack to there, forcing herself with a small pang of regret to leave the brunette's hot and punishing mouth to torture her elsewhere.

A needy moan crawled up Regina's throat as Emma sucked at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, her knees threatening to buckle under the sheriff's onslaught. Her right hand rubbed carelessly at a tight nipple underneath Emma's thin tank top, pinching it roughly through the fabric while her other hand sought out the lock on the bedroom door. But upon jiggling the latch she frowned.

Breathing sharply and trying not to look as flustered as the blonde was making her, she gripped Emma firmly by the hair and pulled her face back up to eye level.

"You broke my lock," she stated accusingly.

The two endless pools of jade staring back at her made it hard to remain angry however. "I'd break down the whole damn door if that's what it'd take to get your attention," Emma replied honestly.

Regina smirked, "I believe you did that once already."

"That I did."

Emma kissed her urgently, knocking Regina's head back into the door as her hands roamed and groped underneath the mayor's shirt, scratching lightly at her lace-encased breasts. Their tongues sought each other out and dueled for dominance, thrusting and licking and biting with increasing fervor.

_This shirt was becoming an issue._

Emma obviously didn't have the where-with-all to deal with buttons right now and Regina was getting impatient.

_Time to take control._

The Queen released the sheriff's lips with a loud pop and shoved Emma roughly toward the bed with one hand.

"Sit."

The blonde tripped backwards, her long legs sprawling underneath her until she had perched her ass obediently on the edge of the bed.

Regina's dark eyes glittered as they raked up the exposed flesh in front of her. The tip of her tongue appeared as she wet the corner of her lips.

Emma swallowed roughly. _If time had been moving too quickly before, it had practically stopped now._

The mayor sauntered toward her like a panther stalking its prey, predatory and fully-aware of the power it held over everything in the vicinity. Seeing the brunette with one shoulder peeking seductively out of her shirt with her hair all messed up was almost too much to handle; Regina disheveled was even hotter than Regina put-together.

Emma had to bite her lip to stop herself from moaning as the Queen painstakingly released each straining button on the white blouse, allowing it to drape sensually around her curves before she let it fall to the ground like a whisper.

The Savior momentarily lost the ability to breathe.

_Regina Mills. Half-naked. In black lace._

The Queen smiled catlike at Emma's dumbfounded expression and prowled forward until she was straddling the blonde, her slacked legs spread deliciously overtop of the sheriff's bare thighs. "Now was that so hard?" Regina crooned teasingly.

Emma didn't trust her own voice to respond, her own breathing shallowing considerably due to the other woman's closeness. Instead her hands automatically reached around to grab the mayor's ass and pulled her hips down into her own, thrusting forward slightly with the movement.

Regina let out a breathy gasp as their pelvises brushed together and she rolled her hips into the sheriff's lap a little more. Emma groaned into the olive flesh in front of her.

The brunette ran her fingertips teasingly up Emma's sides and skirted them lightly over her protruding collarbone, tracing aimlessly tender patterns over her skin and watching the resulting goosebumps erupt in their wake. She grazed the column of the Savior's throat and traced her jaw with a fingernail before twisting the digit through a blonde curl, twirling it around her finger.

"Do you like what you see, Sheriff?" Regina asked sultrily, pushing her hips more forcefully into Emma's lap. The rough contrast in her groin combined with the careful caresses on her chest was setting the blonde's nerve-endings ablaze.

"God, yes," Emma ground out, her voice taking on a significantly huskier timbre the more turned on she got. She trailed her hands over Regina's naked back, outlining the faint indent of her spine and slipping smoothly over her tanned flesh before finding the clasp of her bra.

"But I'd like to see more."

Regina bent down to capture Emma's mouth in a gentle embrace and the blonde's neck had to crane upwards in order to reach. With their lips still connected, Regina felt the material around her chest fall slack and a bubble of nervous excitement she hadn't felt in ages began to well up in her stomach. The hands on her back drew the fabric away and she reclined slightly to allow Emma to pull the bra from her arms, fully revealing her chest to the sheriff.

Her nipples perked up as soon as they hit the cold air and stood out proudly.

"Wow," Emma breathed. She stroked her palms over the brunette's taut abdomen, reveling in how the muscles jumped under her touch before she brought both of her hands to rest over the Queen's pert breasts, cupping the firm mounds between her fingers.

She squeezed softly and ran her thumbs experimentally over the mayor's erect peaks. The brunette hummed appreciatively. "You're gorgeous, you know that right?"

Regina whimpered when the blonde rolled over her nipples a little bit harder and the Queen's fingers clenched involuntarily into Emma's shoulders. A wave of heat pooled in her core as the breath caught in her throat. "You're not so bad yourself, dear," the brunette managed to choke out.

Emma nuzzled the valley between the mayor's breasts, tweaking and twisting one of Regina's nipples with her long fingers as she kissed her way towards the other neglected globe. The Queen squirmed in her lap, the glacial pace the sheriff was setting making Regina hyper-sensitive to any movement she made against her skin.

So by the time that Emma's mouth closed over the needy tip of her rounded flesh, Regina's hips were already rocking steadily into the blonde's pelvis.

A soft exclamation fell from the Queen's lips as Emma's teeth grazed one of her dusky peaks and she instinctually dug her fingers into the blonde's curls, hugging the woman as close to her chest as possible as she flung her head back in rapture, completely immersed in the feeling. She cooed and sighed, cried out and moaned, losing all sense of how loud her voice was as the sheriff's talented mouth switched back and forth between her breasts, sucking hard and tonguing her nipples into rock hard points.

The noises Regina was making were hitting the blonde's core like a sledgehammer, her own thighs clenching underneath the brunette's. She was so turned on right now that she could barely stand it.

The mayor's naked back suddenly hit the bed as Emma tossed her down onto the mattress and leapt on top of her. Something inside both of them had snapped; sweet and slow was just not their style.

Emma kissed Regina until she couldn't breathe anymore, until her head was spinning and she was gasping for air. Her wandering hands scraped along the brunette's ribcage and massaged her breasts until the Queen's back was arching off the bed, her entire form writhing underneath her.

_The Savior was wearing entirely too much clothing._

Regina's own hands scrambled for the bottom of the sheriff's tank top, and when she found it the mayor practically ripped it off of the other woman's body. She needed to see skin.

She was also mildly surprised and more than a little bit pleased to see that Emma's bra matched her red cotton panties.

Regina's fingernails raked down the blonde's back and Emma hissed in approval as her pleasure mixed with the slight sting of the scratches. Retaliating, the sheriff pinched the brunette's nipples particularly hard as she began peppering the Queen's neck with biting kisses that made her pulse leap dangerously under her skin.

The brunette clutched madly at Emma's shoulder blades, relishing in the silky softness of the sheriff's flesh but thoroughly irritated by her own inability to release the blonde's breasts from their confines. She yanked Emma down hard on top of her and tugged furiously at the bra in question, but in her frenzied search she couldn't find the clasp she was looking for. The mayor growled in frustration.

Emma chuckled at her desperation.

"Front clasp," the blonde whispered deviously and the tickling breath against the Queen's neck sent a shiver shooting down her spine.

Regina's questing fingers easily fell to the front of Emma's chest and popped open the tiny hook nestled in the valley of her cleavage. Immediately the sheriff's breasts spilled out in front of her face, full and buoyant with rosy nipples decorating their tips and Regina felt a little gasp escape her.

She hadn't even known how badly she was craving this until she saw them.

Regina couldn't take her eyes off of the magnificent globes in front of her. She molded them to her hands, rolling and scratching lightly with her fingernails to watch them perk up and pebble underneath her touch. She grinned maliciously as she steepled the nipples into even stiffer peaks, utterly entranced by the sounds she now knew she could elicit from the Savior, who was currently staring down at her through a cascade of unruly curls with a look of pure hunger on her face.

Emma had stilled her movements above the brunette for the moment and was just hovering over the Queen, forcibly locking her elbows in place to make sure she didn't collapse. Her eyes slammed shut as she moaned gutturally in the back of her throat and concentrated on not squishing Regina beneath her weight. The mayor's palms kneaded her breasts relentlessly until she thought she might just cum right there; the nimble fingers were playing her body so well that Regina could have been doing this for years.

The Queen's fingernails trailed over Emma's stomach, the toned abs jumping and twitching under the brunette's assault as she teased over her waist and down around her belly button. Then suddenly Regina plunged her hand past the waistband of Emma's red boy-shorts at the same time that she captured the blonde's lips in a demanding kiss, shoving her tongue roughly into the Savior's mouth.

Regina cupped Emma's mound firmly in her hand as she dipped her middle finger into the blonde's wetness, a contented sigh falling from her lips when a violent tremor ricocheted up the sheriff's body as a result.

Moaning simultaneously, they swallowed the sounds for each other; their tongues clashing together as the mayor's fingers delved a little deeper into Emma. The blonde's legs shook as Regina bit down on her thin lower lip and pulled, running a juice-covered digit up Emma's slit and smearing her wetness around to circle the sheriff's clit. Emma bore down on Regina's hand, wordlessly asking to increase the pressure, and was instantly denied. Instead the Queen removed her hand completely and tugged sharply on the elastic, bringing the blonde's panty-clad sex firmly against her own covered one until Emma was laying flush on top of her. The sheriff groaned.

"Take this off," the Queen commanded against Emma's lips. She snapped the waistband once to accentuate her point.

_Regina's still bossy even when she's on the bottom_, Emma mused. _That's kinda hot._

The sheriff crouched back on her knees and quickly shimmied off the offending garment before shooting Regina a rebellious smirk as she dropped them over the side of the bed, dirtying the mayor's floor.

The Queen's jaw tumbled open. _Who knew that the lanky blonde looked like __that__ underneath all of those bad clothes? _

"Thank you," Emma grinned as she crawled back up the brunette, grinding the full length of her naked body down onto the mayor as she went. Regina pressed up into the pressure of her hips, willing her hands to remain unimpressed and instead clutch at the bed sheets.

"But I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to," the sheriff spoke softly, a hair-width away from Regina's lips like a secret. Their breasts brushed together and a little keening noise escaped the mayor's vocal chords. Emma kissed away the sound. "It's written all over your face."

"Cocky."

Emma just kept grinning, expertly unbuttoning Regina's slacks with one hand, "You like it."

Regina hummed noncommittally through her pursed lips as she lifted her hips to let the blonde slide the fabric down her legs. She watched her pants join the ever-growing pile on the floor.

She wasn't about to start arguing against something that was true.

Emma turned her gaze back to the Queen. The woman was almost completely naked and sprawled rather regally across the bed. The sight made the blonde's mouth water.

The sheriff hungrily eyed the last piece of lace that was covering what she most wanted to see and the brunette flushed prettily at the blatant look of lust.

"May I?" Emma asked chivalrously; half-jokingly, half-an actual question.

Regina chewed on the corner of her lip for a moment. Then nodded.

Emma swallowed as she hooked her fingers under the material around the mayor's hips and slowly pulled the lacey underwear down Regina's long lean legs. But as soon as the sheriff had tugged it past her toes, the Queen demurely pressed her knees back together and crossed her ankles politely, hiding Emma from the much-desired view.

The blonde scowled playfully at her and Regina smirked smugly.

"Such a tease," Emma chided.

"You like it," the brunette replied smoothly.

Emma ran her palms gingerly up the mayor's legs until her hands were resting on Regina's knees, "I do... but not right now."

Then she pulled the Queen's thighs apart.

Emma looked like she had just unwrapped the best Christmas present she had ever received. Her mouth went a little slack and her eyes darted back and forth as she tried to soak up everything that Regina was offering her, feasting on the gift.

"Oh Regina," Emma breathed. The Queen was positively dripping.

The stunned expression wasn't new but the reverence attached to it was.

Regina wasn't sure that she had ever been looked at quite like this before. It made her heart flutter a little in anticipation and her breath skip a beat and cling to the back of her throat.

The blonde massaged the backs of her calves as she trailed her lips along the inside of each knee, and then further up on the mayor's inner thighs, placing teasing kisses against the quivering flesh and smirking when she felt the legs around her face begin to tremble.

Settling herself in between the Queen's thighs, Emma wrapped one arm around either leg so she could rest her hands on Regina's trim waist. She nipped sharply at a hipbone before scattering feather-light kisses closer and closer to the brunette's sex.

Her nose flirted at the top of Regina's core, sucking in the heady scent of the mayor and relishing in how shallow the woman's breathing had gotten in the past few seconds. She flicked the Queen's clit lightly with her tongue once; with just barely enough pressure to really count as contact.

Regina's hips nearly shot up off of the bed.

The sheriff smiled at the discovery of just how sensitive her little Queen was and rewarded the brunette by plunging her tongue deep into her hot center without warning.

The desired moan she was expecting erupted out of Regina's lungs in full force and that was all it took for the blonde to go to work mercilessly ravaging the mayor.

Emma devoured the Queen like she was the best thing that she had ever tasted: licking, sucking, biting, and lapping relentlessly at the apex of Regina's legs until the brunette was undulating underneath her loving onslaught, groaning and panting wildly in a constant stream of nonsensical noises.

The blonde circled the mayor's clit again before sucking the entire bundle of nerves into her waiting mouth and Regina cried out at the sensation, a little more of her wetness spilling out of her and coating the Savior's chin. Emma licked her lips, wanting to savor every precious drop of the Queen.

Regina had never felt so worshipped.

_I could fall in love with this woman._

The thought almost stopped Regina cold, but as it was Emma didn't give her time to panic. The sight of the blonde's head moving between her legs was almost enough to make her come undone by itself, and the mayor was already racing towards ecstasy very quickly… which made it difficult to think about anything other than the way that her insides were currently squeezing at Emma's delving tongue.

Her nipples were achingly hard. Her abs quivered and her legs shook, and her hips would have been grinding vigorously into the Savior's face were it not for Emma's vice-like grip on her hipbones. Her entire body was wracked with goosebumps even though she was pulsing with warmth. Even her toes were tingling.

She needed Emma to kiss her.

Now.

"Emma," the brunette moaned, trying to get her attention.

The blonde hummed her acknowledgement of the use of her name into the mayor's pussy, and Regina had to fight to remember what it was her brain wanted to say.

Emma was enjoying herself far too much to break for a verbal response.

Regina tried again, tugging on the blonde's hair. "Emma," she panted raspily. "Come kiss me."

Emma looked up at the flushed and breathless Queen with a grin plastered to her face. The sheriff cocked a mischievous eyebrow, "I thought that's what I was doing." She punctuated her words with a long lick up the brunette's sex that ended with a short flick against her clit, the whole time never breaking eye contact with her regal captive.

Regina's head slammed back against the pillow but her grip in the blonde's curls tightened.

"Emma…" she growled threateningly, struggling to stay present. "I'm serious."

"So am I."

The noise that spilled from Regina's lips next was somewhat strangled; like something between a frustrated whimper and an impassioned cry for more, and Emma took pity on the poor woman that she was driving to near-insanity with her lovemaking skills. Ceasing her teasing for the moment, the blonde slowly crawled up the mayor's enticing body to give her a much-deserved kiss, but unfortunately Emma didn't make it very far before she got distracted.

Regina's legs were still spread wide open and Emma was situated between them, meaning that when the sheriff pressed flush against the Queen, their clits bumped together.

Both women moaned and shuttered at the contact, and Regina momentarily forgot what she had asked for. Her hands flew to Emma's ass and kneaded the rounded flesh there roughly, pulling the blonde further into her body.

For her part, Emma planted a firm hand on either side of Regina's head and dug her fingers into the pillows, rolling her hips into the brunette's sex and grinding their deliciously naked bodies together until the friction became too much. Regina wanted to scream as she wrapped her legs around the sheriff's torso and thrust up against her, the pleasure becoming almost blinding.

The Queen was teetering on the edge of bliss. Her eyes were half-lidded in lust and her painted lips panted their approval as her clit throbbed between her legs. Every nerve in her body was tingling in anticipation and her thighs had almost gone numb from the sheer amount of force she was exerting into them in order to cling to the Savior's body. Her head swam and her heart felt as if it was about to pound out of her chest as her sweat-soaked skin slid continuously under the gorgeous blonde above her.

"Emma."

It was a plead. A groan. A prayer. A home.

It was a name that felt unbelievably right in her mouth.

Regina grabbed the blonde's face and kissed her hard.

A pulse of white light shot out from their connected lips like a sonic boom and Regina's orgasm crashed over her senses with the strength of an atomic bomb.

The Queen convulsed with pleasure, crying out loudly and digging her nails into Emma's shoulders so hard that she was sure that the indentations would still be visible weeks from now. Undiluted waves of euphoria rolled over her as her mind-blowing climax shook her to her core, until she was left as a whimpering, exhausted mess strewn out underneath the Savior.

Emma tenderly brushed Regina's hair off of her forehead and tucked it behind her ear while the mayor tried to catch her breath. She delicately kissed her forehead. And her cheek. And her nose. And her chin. And just about anywhere else on her face that she could reach, littering the brunette with fleetingly chaste kisses as she slowly came back to earth.

"That…" Emma admitted softly, running her thumb over the Queen's smudged lipstick, "was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen."

Regina could have cried. She felt dizzy and satisfied.

She felt light.

And then she let out a stunted chuckle due to her still-recovering air supply. "It would appear that we've made quite a mess, dear."

Emma frowned for a second; unsure of what Regina was talking about. But then she realized that the brunette was surveying the space behind her and the blonde tore her gaze away from the Queen for a moment to glance around the bedroom. She laughed too.

"Oh my god did all of this come out of you?!"

The room was swimming in a thick haze of green mist, murky and filtering in and out of the sunlight coming through the window like an unfortunate cloud of oversized dust particles.

"It would seem so," Regina murmured. She sounded almost proud.

Then her eyebrows twitched subtly inwards as a thought flickered just behind her chocolate irises and the mayor questioningly waved her hand in front of her.

The room was immediately engulfed by a rushing wave of purple smoke that swirled around the bed before vanishing into thin air, sweeping the angry green reminder away with it like dirt under a rug.

A triumphant smile bloomed across the Queen's face, deadly and dazzling in its intensity as Regina felt her magic spring back into her soul as if it had never left, crackling marvelously underneath her skin and filling in the holes the curse had punctured in her heart.

Her magic was back and the curse was gone.

She felt powerful. She felt sexy.

She felt positively devilish.

Regina expertly flipped Emma onto her back and pinned her against the mattress, grinning like a cheshire cat.

The scent of Regina's magic lingered around them like a sweet perfume, like a fruit orchard draped in dew after the first summer rain, and Emma couldn't help but be mildly intoxicated by the smell. And looking up at the Queen, radiantly beaming down at her and still gloriously naked and straddled over her waist, the blonde thought that Regina had never looked more breathtaking.

Emma blushed.

"So… I take it you're not cursed anymore?"

"That would be correct," the Queen cooed playfully, sliding one of her legs surreptitiously between the blonde's thighs and pressing upward. Emma's back arched of its own accord.

"No more nasty green stuff?" the blonde inquired on a shaky breath.

"Mm-hm," Regina affirmed, running her tongue up the column of her throat, their stomachs brushing lightly against each other.

"So does that mean that you're really in love with–?"

Regina stopped her with one perfect fingernail over the sheriff's mouth. She then slowly brought her face as close as she could to the blonde's without actually touching, until Emma could feel the mayor's breath breaking over her own suddenly dry lips.

"Stop talking, Ms. Swan, and let me thank you properly."

The broken door-bolt magically repaired in a puff of purple smoke and promptly locked itself.

And that was all the warning she got.

Regina kissed her like she was starving and Emma was the only thing that could fill her up inside. She bit her lips and chewed on her neck, groping and squeezing every ounce of flesh presented underneath her, teasing contented whimpers and keening groans from the throat of the writhing blonde.

The mayor blazed a wet trail of feverishly fast-paced, open-mouthed kisses down the sheriff's chest until she could bite down on one of Emma's erect nipples. She sucked hard on her breast and bathed the straining peak in lavish attention, leaving purpling hickies scattered about in her wake while her hand played roughly with the blonde's other breast, punishing her nipple between the soft pads of her fingers.

Emma was already bucking under Regina's weight by the time the brunette raked her nails over her abdomen and snuck her free hand between their grinding bodies to penetrate the sheriff's glistening core.

The blonde's groan rumbled deep within her chest at Regina's satisfying intrusion. Her breasts bounced in time with the onslaught and the sheriff could feel her toes starting to curl in preparation for the tidal wave of pleasure beginning to build in her groin. She had already been on edge before the Queen had made her move, and she certainly wasn't going to last long now. She couldn't even think straight.

The mayor was stabbing hard and fast inside of her, fucking her so vigorously that Emma's entire body moved back with each powerful thrust of the brunette's fingers until her head was repeatedly ramming into the headboard.

_This wouldn't do. She couldn't have the blonde knocked unconscious before she came, no matter how satisfying it was to hear the smacking sound against the bedframe._

"Sit up," the Queen suddenly demanded.

Emma weakly complied and pushed up onto her elbows, following the come hither motion Regina's fingers were still making inside of her. The room was spinning a little as Regina pulled the blonde into her lap, and now with both of her legs draped on either side of the mayor, the sheriff found herself completely at the Queen's disposal.

The blonde moaned loudly as Regina resumed her furious pace in this new position, skewering the sheriff on top of her probing fingers.

The Savior ground her pelvis wantonly into the Queen's lap, digging her fingers into the brunette's cropped hair to give her some semblance of balance. Her body was on fire as Regina returned to happily biting at her neck again, and Emma cried out at the invasion of sharp teeth to her already marked flesh.

Emma flailed to grasp onto something, anything to ground her to reality: she clawed at the mayor's back, pulled at her hair, bit at her shoulder, but the Queen was relentless. With just a few more expertly timed thrusts and the strategic crushing of her clit under the heel of the brunette's palm, Emma came helplessly on Regina's fingers, screaming with her release as she shattered into oblivion and gushed her essence all over the Queen's hand.

The force of Emma's climax caused the pair to collapse backwards so that they were laying the wrong way on the bed, Regina losing her hold on the sheriff in her thrashing state of ecstasy and ending with both women's feet landing on top of the mayor's fluffy pillows.

Their combined breathing was erratic as they laid prone on their backs next to each other, their bodies still humming in post-orgasmic bliss. Regina had an arm thrown over her eyes so that her nose was settled into the crook of her elbow. Emma couldn't seem to stop staring at the ceiling.

"That was pre–"

"Shhhhh."

Emma swallowed her chuckle as the mayor blindly reached over and flopped her hand limply on the blonde's face. "Don't say anything. You'll ruin the moment."

The sheriff grinned back at her from underneath the manicured hand. Instead she took two of the digits still covered in her own juices into her mouth and sucked softly on them, caressing them both with the tip of her tongue.

Regina let out a shaky breath at the unexpected sensation and flashed her eyes toward Emma.

"Mmm," the blonde hummed. "Worn out already?"

Regina's mouth fell open slightly at the erotic sight in front of her. Suddenly she wasn't so tired anymore.

Emma plucked the Queen's fingers out of her mouth and kissed the tip of each of them in turn. "That's a damn shame really," she continued nonchalantly. "And here I was about ask if you'd be up for round two."

A salaciously evil smile lit up the mayor's face as she leaned her head in towards Emma's ear. Her teeth grazed the blonde's earlobe, nibbling on it lightly before her sex-ravaged voice broke its breath over the shell.

"Oh Ms. Swan, you have no idea what I'm capable of."

Regina didn't even have time to gasp before Emma had pounced on top of her.


	13. A New Kind of Magic

**Chapter 13: A New Kind of Magic**

Aimless fingers were trailing through her hair.

Chipped-polish fingernails grazed her scalp in calming patterns, weaving methodically through her short, brown locks only to let the strands fall back towards her face, rhythmically keeping time like a metronome. Occasionally one of the digits would get caught in a tangle and the hand would still for the briefest of moments to tug out the knot. It then would resume its leisurely task as if it had never been disrupted in the first place.

Regina cracked open a bleary eye. She was sprawled haphazardly half-on top of the Savior, who was currently lounging on her back with her eyes closed. One of the mayor's arms had wrapped itself greedily around the blonde's waist while her left leg had hooked over the nearest hip, settling her olive-tanned thigh neatly in between both of Emma's creamy ones. Her head was nestled snuggly against the sheriff's shoulder; her lips barely brushing against the crook of a pale neck.

And suddenly Regina's nerves were on sensory-overload, overwhelmed with everything Emma. The blonde was everywhere at once: she was the breath ghosting over the top of her head, the leftover taste still in her mouth, the scent of the skin she was pressing against…

_Oh her skin._

All of the soft skin that Regina was touching was thoroughly distracting.

The brunette blinked rapidly as she tried to remember how exactly she'd gotten here. The Queen had lost count as to how many times she and the Savior had conquered each other after about the fifth or so orgasm they'd shared… so she figured that it was safe to assume that after one of their more intense escapades she had simply fallen asleep.

_How embarrassing._

Regina lifted her head to take in the stunning creature beneath her and at the movement, the hand threading through her hair fell limply against her shoulder.

Emma's princess curls were fanned out around her head like a crown, shimmering with gold against the perfect porcelain skin that was practically glowing in the dying light of the day. It was the calmest that the Queen had ever seen the Savior look, so peaceful and serene in her slumber that Regina couldn't help but think that she looked like a portrait straight out of a fairytale. It was the kind of image that made you want to kiss her.

Heavy eyelids remained closed, hiding the alluring jade she knew lay beneath them from sight. The Queen's gaze passed idly over the cute button nose to land on the blonde's demanding pink lips, which out of nowhere twitched upwards into a playful grin.

"Good morning, Your Majesty."

Regina started at the unexpected voice and Emma smirked at her, now peeking at the Queen from under a hooded eyelid, "I could feel you staring at me."

The mayor quickly regained her composure and looked down at the blonde snootily, "It's nearly evening, Ms. Swan. Your greeting is hardly appropriate."

Emma rolled her eyes and scowled. "You really are always this difficult, aren't you?"

It somehow didn't seem like a question.

Regina huffed indignantly and blew a puff of air upwards to try and sweep her tousled bangs out of her face without using her hands. She was extremely unsuccessful and Emma held back a chuckle at the adorable pout now poking out from underneath the ruffled brunette bob.

The sheriff tenderly brushed the messy strands from the Queen's face and tucked them behind her ear, grazing the brunette's elegant cheekbone with the back of her hand before letting her palm fall back to its resting place against Regina's shoulder.

The mayor's face immediately sobered at the intimate gesture, her eyebrows inclining towards each other slightly as she considered the woman splayed beneath her.

Her plump lips pursed into a thin line. "You stayed."

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

The brunette cocked her head to the side, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"You saved the town, so why are you still here? Why did you stay?"

Emma shrugged. "I wanted to."

Disbelief colored the Queen's features, "No one's ever stayed before."

Emma retorted without thinking, "Well knowing you, you probably kicked them all out before."

She instantly realized her mistake as Regina's face hardened. The brunette's spine stiffened defensively as she recoiled from the blonde, fully extending her elbows as she tried to escape the soft skin she had been pressed into. "You should go," the mayor stated coldly as she moved to exit the bed.

"No."

Regina's skin bristled. "What do you mean, no?"

"You heard me. I said no. I'm not going anywhere. And neither are you." And with that, Emma yanked the retreating Queen back into her chest and held her there.

The mayor was less than pleased by this turn of events.

"Let go of me!" Regina demanded, shoving roughly at the arms around her.

"Nope," Emma replied, clutching the futilely struggling woman even closer to her body as she weathered the storm of kicking and scratching. She knew she was stronger than Regina, and she could out-wait her if she had to. "You're going to lay here with me and revel in the fact that you're not cursed anymore."

"And why would I want to do that with you?" the brunette spat back, still clawing at the biceps around her middle.

"Because that's what people do when they win. They celebrate."

Regina settled a little at the word 'win', her anger dying away as quickly as it had flared up, as she contemplated the prospect of actually celebrating a victory _with_ someone for a change. She pushed feebly at Emma's arms a few more times but she knew it was no use. They weren't budging.

The mayor reluctantly relented and allowed Emma's hand to guide her head back onto the sheriff's shoulder. She crossed her arms as she sulked and groused into the blonde's neck, "You are infuriatingly stubborn."

Regina felt Emma's chuckle deep within her chest before she heard it flee her lips.

"Says the woman who held a grudge for so long that she had to enact a realm-wide curse just to make herself feel better."

The pair fell into a tense silence; Emma hugging the Queen tightly to her side while Regina laid stiffly against her, adamantly refusing to snuggle. The sheriff eventually managed to pry the brunette's arms apart and succeeded in wrestling one of the mayor's unaccommodating limbs back over her upper body. Immensely satisfied with this feat, the blonde then returned her hands to cradling Regina's back.

The mayor grunted at the gesture, but surprisingly did not remove her arm from Emma's chest. If anything her fingers curled delicately around the shoulder in question and faintly squeezed.

The silence lengthened and Regina permitted her eyes to quietly drift closed, listening to the steady beat of the Savior's heart.

Then Emma ruined the moment, just like she always did.

"The curse did break, right?"

The Queen sighed in annoyance, "Yes."

Then there was another pregnant pause and Regina frowned. The sheriff was fidgeting… which meant that another unpleasant question was currently in the making.

"So… true love's kiss actually worked then?"

Regina waited a tortuously long amount of time before she answered.

"Unfortunately yes."

"Ah."

The silence that followed the revelation was so loud that the room was buzzing with the absence of noise.

The mayor could feel Emma's heart hammering under her ear, resonating throughout her chest to also pound heartily in the wrists and palms pressed against her back and forearms, and Regina knew that her own pulse matched that of the suddenly nervous sheriff.

Unspoken questions hovered in the air and swarmed in their skulls, hesitating behind lips so firmly closed that the room began to feel much warmer than it was supposed to.

_What are we going to do? Where are we supposed to go from here? Will Emma want to move in with me? Stay as far away from me as possible? Pretend that it never happened? Should we tell people? People are bound to figure it out eventually; nosiness infects this town like a plague. Emma is going to want me to lie. I can't keep lying to Henry. Not again. But what if she doesn't want to be in love with me? True love is hard… just because you're 'meant to be' doesn't mean that it always works out that way. What if I'm not worth all of the trouble loving me would put her in…_

The doubt was starting to make Regina feel a little sick.

But the bemused chortle from Emma broke her out of her spiraling thoughts, "I mean, I knew I had a thing for bad boys, but you definitely take the cake." The blonde barked out another belly-laugh at her seeming non sequitur and tightened her grip around the mayor's back, hugging the Queen even closer to her than before as her form was wracked with laughter.

_So they weren't going to talk about the massive ramifications of their actions; Emma was just going to laugh about it._ Regina let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She suddenly didn't feel so exposed.

"Bedding the Evil Queen. Now there's got to be an award for that somewhere."

And as crude as it was, the brunette knew that she could always count on Emma's unfortunate sense of humor to provide her a small reprieve from her own darkness. Her father had always told her that she took life too seriously anyway.

_Banter. Banter is normal. I can do banter._

Her eyebrows rose amusedly as they fell back into their old pattern, "I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"As you should. Your evil side is quite sexy… and by evil, I mean naked."

Emma placed a kiss in the brunette's hair and Regina grinned into the Savior's skin.

"You know," the Queen started, walking her fingers casually over the inviting clavicle near her nose and making sure that her forearm brushed over the blonde's breasts as she moved. "I've never really had a fondness for other princesses. Especially in your family."

Emma mumbled her response into the top of the mayor's head, refusing to let her lips leave Regina's body, "Well what if I was your White Knight instead? Word on the street is that they always protect their Queen."

Regina's heart soared even though she told herself it was mushy and overly-sentimental to do so. She felt herself relax a little and snuggled closer into the sheriff's embrace in spite of herself. The world was safe in Emma's arms.

"I could live with that, I suppose," the Queen murmured quietly, nuzzling her nose a little further into the Savior's neck.

"Yeah?" The hope in Emma's voice was devastating. She tried to pull her head back to look the mayor in the eye.

The brunette met her gaze. "I kind of like having you on my side."

Emma kissed her then. Soft and slow and sweet. Like she had all the time in the world to do so.

Regina found herself sighing.

Their legs entwined as Emma twisted to face the mayor, their stomachs brushing together as they laid side by side. She cupped Regina's face in her hands and kissed her so tenderly that one might have thought the Queen was made of glass.

They toyed leisurely with each other's bodies, neither woman really making an effort to get the other one off. For now they were content to just offer coy and flirtatious touches and watch the other squirm under their purposefully unfulfilling assault. Exploring one another was half the fun.

Eyes snuck covert glances.

Teeth nipped lightly.

Emma's thumb found a full lower lip.

Regina's fingers danced across the plane of a stomach.

Nails brushed against a nipple, leaving a pebbled peak in its wake.

Muscles twitched as a bellybutton was circled.

They teased and taunted and tantalized, goosebumps scattering over caressed necks and sensitized thighs until their quickening breath heated the tiny space between their lips and the sheriff stole another fleeting kiss.

"Let me take you on a date," Emma whispered.

"What?"

"You know… a date," she insisted. "With food, and wine, and flowers. I want to do this whole thing right." The earnest blonde searched the Queen's face with impassioned eyes and after a moment, the sheriff caught the glimpse of vulnerability she was looking for. So she added soothingly, "I could even bring Henry, if you want."

Regina was quiet for what felt like forever, her eyes downcast and staring intently at the finger she was tracing in graceful patterns over Emma's skin as she thought. Then so quietly that the Savior wasn't sure she'd actually heard it, a shy 'okay' fell from her painted lips.

"Really? You'll go on a date with me?" Emma couldn't hide the joy in her voice.

The mayor's eyes snapped up to the sheriff's with her patented agitated scowl back in place, "Are you deaf, Ms. Swan? I'm not going to say it again."

The blonde just rolled her eyes and taking the hand currently flirting with her collarbone, kissed Regina's palm.

"Just double-checking. For a second there, I could have sworn I heard you agreeing with me."

Regina scoffed in irritation but her lips were starting to twitch into a secret little smile without her consent. "Well, don't get used to it, dear. It won't happen again."

The sheriff ignored the comment, "Is there anywhere in particular you'd like to go?"

The answer was immediate.

"Not Granny's."

Emma nodded in agreement. "Anything else?" she pressed, her eyes dancing leisurely over the brunette in her arms.

"Mmm," Regina hummed, pushing the length of her body flush against the blonde's. "I have a few ideas."

Emma gulped as the Queen squeezed her ass, kneading the plaint flesh between her fingers. "Yeah?"

"One of them involves me making dinner for you and Henry. We could eat it here at the house." The brunette slid her knee up against Emma's core and delighted in the sharp intake of breath caused by her movements. "Would you enjoy that?" she whispered sultrily.

Emma moaned a little, the sound catching in the back of her throat. "I think I like this plan," she murmured sexily into Regina's ear. She tangled her hands into the Queen's hair. "What would you make?"

"I do have a lasagna I've been perfecting," the mayor drawled, nibbling on the offered earlobe. "I make it with red pepper flakes." She bit sharply at the sheriff's neck, "Gives it that extra kick."

The breathy groan that Emma had been trying to keep inside escaped her as Regina's fingers found her nipple and tugged on it.

"Then after Henry is asleep," the Queen continued, rolling the stiffening peak as casually as she could while still rubbing her leg at the apex of the blonde's thighs, "I'll make you cum so hard that you'll have to smash your face into a pillow to cover your screams."

And then the Savior was devouring the Queen's lips in fiery assault that left both of their bodies aching for more. She rolled on top of the mayor's lithe body and ground herself down on it, elated when Regina's hips instantly strained upwards to meet her. The blonde breathed hotly into the brunette's mouth, "Sounds perfect to me."

Emma wanted nothing more than to stay forever in the little fantasy world she had created for herself nestled in Regina's bedroom. Here she had no presumptuous child, no meddling parents, and no town that needed her to fix all of its trifling problems. It was only her and her strikingly beautiful former-nemesis wrapped around each other inside of an impossibly-comfortable Queen-sized bed filled with glorified dreams. The idea of ever leaving this spot sounded horrible.

But as it is with all things bright and idyllic, they must come to an end. And reality found them quickly, bursting through the window like a cold draft in the middle of summer.

A rumbling tremor shook the mansion in its moldings and Regina yanked her mouth away from the woman on top of her, listening intently with an odd expression on her face.

"Those are Hook's cannons."

"Fuck that guy," Emma muttered, and went to claim Regina's lips again. But the brunette stopped her with a gentle hand on her chest.

"Didn't you say that my mother was with him?"

"…oh shit."

"My thoughts exactly."

Emma fell off of the Queen as she wrapped the bed sheet around her naked form with one arm and rushed to throw back the curtains from the white-paned window.

And there it was. Backlit by the setting sun on the horizon was a darkened pirate ship, lurking on the distant harbor, probably about a mile from shore.

A rock settled in Regina's stomach and her heart sank down to meet it, the old heaviness of her past threatening to squash her fragile newfound happiness. Her jaw clenched as she scowled at the menacing silhouette.

"How'd they even get into Storybrooke?" Emma wondered aloud as she came to stand behind the mayor. She hadn't bothered to cover her nakedness and had decided instead to use the brunette as a human shield between her and the town outside, wrapping her arms around the Queen's waist as she glared out the window for herself.

"I don't know," Regina deadpanned, "But whatever she's doing here, it's not good."

"What do you think she wants?"

"Me, most likely." The fear laced through the Queen's words was not lost on Emma. "And being that the last time I saw her she was in a coffin after being falsely assassinated by Hook, who _I_ sent for her, I don't think she exactly has my best interests at heart."

"Shit. And I told her about Henry."

"YOU WHAT?!"

The Queen whirled around in an instant fury and Emma put both of her hands up as she backed away, naked as the day she was born and terrified of the raging woman in the bed sheet.

"She heard me mention him in passing and when she asked I didn't know who she was and so I said that he was my son but that I kind of share him with you," the blonde stammered. "I also said that it was complicated," she added, as if that fact would redeem her slightly.

But Regina was still seething. "I can't believe you told her that! Have you no sense?! She'll use my love for him against me! To hurt me… to hurt him." Her livid eyes flashed menacingly back to the steadily retreating sheriff, her voice suddenly a dangerous calm, "I learned how to destroy people's happiness by watching _her_, Emma. She is not someone whose threats should be taken lightly."

"Okay. Okay. I get it. You forget that I _have_ met the woman before; had my heart tugged on a few times…" Emma closed the distance she'd put between them as she saw the despondent bleakness that came with loss causes start to infiltrate the Queen's expression. "But we've got the advantage. We know she's coming." She grabbed Regina's free hand in both of her own. "And we'll fight her off together, alright? I will not let not let anything happen to Henry."

The Savior looked deep into Regina's watery eyes and she felt herself falling. She knew that she'd work her whole life to keep this helpless expression off of the mayor's face if it was the last thing she did. "I promise."

Purple fumes spun out around their joined hands and lingered there like a puff of perfume. And then a shower of miniature golden sparks crackled inside the cloud for a moment before the whole thing dissipated in a matter of seconds.

Neither of them moved. Emma raised her wide eyes to meet Regina's and was met with a pair equally as disbelieving.

"You have magic?" The Queen's voice was reverent and she whispered the question under her breath like she was afraid that outside ears would hear.

"I… I don't know," the sheriff stuttered. "Gold hinted that I might…" She pulled her hands off of Regina's and stared at them with shock, scouring her palms like she had never seen them before.

Regina rolled her eyes, "Tell me what it feels like."

Emma pried her eyes away from her own flesh long enough to give the mayor a confused look. "What _what_ feels like?"

The brunette sighed and interlaced each of her hands with one of Emma's, letting the bed sheet surrounding her flutter to the ground. Then poised in front of the Savior, the Queen brought both sets of their hands up to chest level and cleared her throat to get the blonde's attention.

The intensity in those emerald orbs almost made her falter. Almost.

"If you really have magic, we should be able to recreate the effect given the right circumstances. If this turns out to be a fluke we're looking at another thing entirely. Now tell me what you were thinking about when it happened."

Emma blushed. "I was… well I… I was thinking about… you."

Regina tried to keep her voice neutral as she fought a blush herself, "Oh. Okay. Well then… that means you must concentrate on all of the things… about me… that make you feel."

"Make me feel?"

"Yes! Make you feel!" Regina was getting exasperated and increasingly embarrassed the longer this went on. "Magic is fueled by strong emotions, and if I am the thing that has unlocked your power, you must focus on all of the things about me that make you feel."

She grimaced as she wove their hands back together, the sheriff looking sufficiently cowed, "Now would you please," the mayor asked, failing to hide her frustration, "just try it again?"

Emma shifted her weight experimentally back and forth between her feet before biting her lip and locking her knees to still herself. "Okay," she muttered uncertainly, "here goes nothing."

It took a moment, of Emma scrunching up her forehead and nearly boring a hole through their hands with how hard she was staring at them and Regina trying desperately not to imagine what kind of images the blonde was conjuring in order to make this work, but sooner than she expected magic erupted from their combined fingers; swirls of purple threaded with twists of gold spiraled and popped through the air like a miniscule thunderstorm. The collective cloud thrummed around their palms in a shape that closely resembled an amorphous sort of basketball.

The blonde's mouth dropped open in joyous astonishment. "I did it!" she yelled, jumping up and down like a child but never letting go of the Queen's hands. "I actually did it!"

"Yes, you did," Regina replied proudly. "Now concentrate. Tell me what it feels like so you can replicate it later."

"Well its warm… and a little tingly," she shot a nervous glance at the Queen which was met with a grin. "Is that normal?"

"Yes, that's normal. Anything else?"

"I feel happy. I feel powerful. I also feel… really sexual."

Regina cocked a knowing eyebrow before drawing her lips together in a tantalizing pucker and lightly blowing a puff of twinkling purple sparks from her enticing mouth. The magic scattered like seeds from a dandelion and danced over Emma's face; everywhere they landed feeling like a smattering of feather-light kisses over her flesh.

"That," the Queen rasped, "is completely normal as well."

Emma closed her eyes in pleasure, welcoming this new way of feeling Regina on her skin and when she finally managed to look at the brunette again her pupils were blown wide with desire.

Regina shivered as the Savior accidentally sent a tendril of shimmering gold from their joined palms snaking up her arm and gasped when the jolt disappeared under her skin. Warmth exploded in her chest and shot back down to her fingertips like an adrenaline rush. The faint tingling sensation Emma's magic left in its wake was pleasant too.

The brunette's eyes also darkened with lust.

"You have magic." The radiant smile the Queen was aiming at her was worth every high-maintenance second she had endured so far.

Emma smirked. "I have magic," she repeated.

Regina ran her tongue over her lips and eclipsed the space between them. "I find that so… incredibly… sexy."

The mayor released the blonde's hands only to shove her forcefully back onto the bed and collapse on top of her, kissing her senseless. Regina's tongue pushed for entrance into her mouth and Emma happily complied, keening lightly at the intoxicating taste she now associated with the Queen.

Regina's leg easily found its way between both of Emma's and she slid her toned thigh mercilessly against the sheriff's needy clit, sending the blonde into an immediate pleasure-fit of shudders. The Savior moaned as she reached for Regina's ass but the brunette caught her questing hands before they could reach their destination and pinned them over her head instead, interlocking their fingers. At this, another rush of warmth flooded Emma's senses as little jolts of magic raced down her arms and into her torso; little harmlessly golden sparks popping out of her bellybutton.

With the Savior captured underneath her, Regina attacked the sheriff's neck with her teeth and sucked violently on the tender skin at her disposal. Emma mewled with pleasure and noted with some resignation that there would definitely be a very visible hickey there in a few minutes. Explaining that to her mother was going to be a pill, but with the way all of this felt… it'd be worth it.

But then the Queen caressed the mark she'd made with her tongue, soothing the tortured flesh and sending little tendrils of purple magic skittering out wherever she tasted, easing the fresh sting of the bruise. The blonde sighed breathlessly, her back arching up off the bed at the conflicting sensations careening through her system. She didn't know whether to plead that it was too much or beg for more.

_I could definitely get used to this whole 'using magic in bed' thing._

Emma managed to raise her own thigh up to rub up against the apex of the mayor's and Regina let out one of her beautiful groans that the sheriff so loved to hear. A faint purple mist wafted up from her shoulders as a gratifying tremor rocketed through her core.

The Queen sucked in a ragged breath as she rocked against the blonde's thigh, simultaneously crushing her own in between the sheriff's, and Emma noticed amid thrusts that occasionally the brunette's eyes would glow with a faint purple hue before fading back to its usual earthy shade of brown. Her hands must have been sending little pulses of magic up through Regina's body as well.

The Savior's entire body was tingling, the combination of magic and sweaty skin setting her nerves on end until she felt like she was fraying, her synapses short-circuiting until she was a mess of crisscrossed wires and writhing impulses underneath the Queen. For all she knew she could have been glowing as she felt Regina's magic mix with her own in the most delicious sort of way.

All she wanted was to feel the brunette _everywhere_.

Emma launched her head off of the pillow and claimed the brunette's lips in an assault that was reckless and wanting, and Regina returned it in equal force, smashing their lips together even harder as they felt the pull of each other's magic tugging on their heart; binding them insatiably closer together than ever before.

"Mmph." A troubling thought slammed into Regina's mind with enough force to make her break the earth-shattering kiss she was currently in the middle of and she frowned down sadly at the sheriff in realization. "Henry's going to think that I've corrupted you somehow. He hates magic."

Emma's brow knitted together in concentration as she contemplated this. "Well, our son is just going to have to get over himself then," she finally said. "His mommies have magic; and I don't know about you but I'm not going to get rid of mine any time soon. When I was his age, I would have thought that this was pretty badass– what?" she stopped taking in Regina's slightly struck facial expression.

"Our son?"

Regina rolled the phrase around in her mouth like she was tasting a fine wine. She was still fiercely possessive of Henry and wanted to keep him all to herself, but she couldn't deny that the word 'our' had a pleasant ring to it.

_It sounded like family._

The thought filled her with a pulse of warmth and a small wave of magic ran across her fingers, which were still pressing Emma's into the pillows above her head. The blonde gasped at the unexpected joint sensation.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, now," the brunette stated firmly, but she was fighting not to smirk. "Henry is still very much mine. Legally anyway. And you know how much I hate to share."

She ground her hips forcefully into the Savior's undulating pelvis and the unspoken statement that Emma was now hers as well was received loud and clear.

The blonde's magically aroused state left her mind with no objection.

But they would have the Henry conversation later. Right now the mayor's mouth had much better things to do than bicker with the mother of her son. Regina grinned wickedly at her willing captive.

The Queen caught the sheriff's lips in a blistering kiss before she finally released Emma's hands, freeing herself to blaze a path down the taut and panting body; her mouth making a wet trail towards the Savior's sex. Regina paused briefly on the way to dip her tongue into the blonde's navel, where she playfully caught an errant spark in her mouth before continuing her descent, her cropped hair falling around her face and tickling Emma's skin as she moved.

But then another cannon blast shook the foundation of the mansion and Regina's head snapped up towards the window, again reminded of the possibly disastrous situation they should be trying to head off instead of what they were currently doing.

The Queen muttered furiously under her breath, "Damn it. We don't have time for this."

Emma whimpered in frustration, "Regina…"

But the steely mask of the mayor slipped into place as the brunette reined in her emotions and fortified her resolve. She had things to do.

"Not now, dear. Later." Regina said it like it was the end of a discussion, like the statement held as much importance as a minor business deal, before she immediately began to extricate herself from the blonde.

The sheriff locked her legs around the other woman's torso so that she couldn't leave and Regina suddenly found herself crashing back down against Emma's chest.

"No," the Savior smirked. She was really starting to love the fact that she was the only one who could get away with saying that to the Queen.

"Emma!" Regina exclaimed. "I said not now! I need to find my mother before she does something terrible to Henry!"

The sheriff pouted at the growing urgency in the brunette's eyes. "Can I come with you?"

That stopped Regina in her tracks: Emma was asking for her permission.

The Queen considered the woman underneath her, holding the blonde's face still as she clutched the strong chin between her tapered fingers; an unreadable expression masking the brunette's features. All Emma could tell was that she was being looked at very intensely, and were it anyone other than Regina staring at her like that, she would have found it extremely unnerving.

But unnerving was what Regina did best, and so on some level the tiny bubble of dread in the pit of her stomach was expected; and on another completely different one, Emma couldn't help but find the ferocious predictability of the woman in front of her a little endearing.

Then suddenly the brunette's eyes softened and the ghost of a joyful smile flitted across her lips like a fond memory, and for one crazy moment Emma thought that Regina was going to say 'I love you'.

But she didn't.

Instead she brought the Savior's face to her own and kissed her so hard that Emma was sure her lips would bruise. There was no tongue or extraneous movement; just passionate pressure that sought to impart all of the feelings the brunette couldn't bring herself to say until neither of them could breathe anymore and they had to break for air.

They'd work up to the words. For now, this was better than enough.

"I would like nothing more."

At the goofy smile spreading across the sheriff's face, Regina good-naturedly slapped Emma in the stomach, her toned abs making a satisfying smacking noise against the brunette's hand.

"Stop that," the mayor chastised, finally making it off the bed and waltzing into the adjoining bathroom.

"Stop what?"

"Smiling like you've won something."

Emma's infectious smile only widened as the Queen leaned herself over the sink as she tried to hurriedly fix her smudged mascara before they left, unintentionally presenting the blonde with a stunning view of her true love's perfect ass.

The blip from before was back. _Yes._ The Savior decided. _A leather corset was definitely somewhere in their future._

Emma regretfully tore her gaze away from the enchanting woman in the bathroom to creep back over to the open window and hide herself behind the curtain so she could assess the current damage to the town.

It was an awful mess.

Random buildings were missing roofs, the pavement on at least two roads had buckled, and intermittent telephone wires were crossed and sparking, with some of them having snapped completely off of their supporting pole. And there was no doubt in the sheriff's mind that Regina would make her fill out paperwork for all of it.

Add on to that the fact that remnants of the angry horde from before were still milling about in smaller groups and the picture was complete. Some were rushing around animatedly (most likely already panicking about the cannon fire coming from the bay) while others were still trying to sneak peeks past the mayor's hedges to catch a glimpse of the Evil Queen's fate.

Even so, Emma could not make herself wipe the smile off her face. Because there in the yard below her was Regina's mutilated apple tree, the unsightly stump where she had hacked the limb off months before still forcing the shrubbery to appear lopsided.

The disfigured stub was growing back.

Tiny twigs of fragile green littered the wound she had made in it so long ago until you could no longer really see where she had made the cut. The tenderly fresh but resilient sprigs stood out boldly in their youth against the aging bark and dared to keep on growing, even in the face of adversity.

_Time heals all wounds._

Emma glanced back at the woman who was now madly combing her hair into submission. This was not going to be easy. They had a lot of factors working against them: Regina had personally cursed everyone in town, both of their mothers loathed at least one person in their relationship, and their son was temperamental in his opinions on his best days.

Not to mention all of their own personal baggage that they would have to deal with.

The blonde's shoulders deflated a little as the weight of their situation bore down on her like an angry cloud.

But then the brunette caught her eye through the mirror on the wall and smiled. It was the kind of smile that could light up a room and blow the cobwebs right out of a person's soul. And suddenly that cloud didn't seem so dark.

_Regina was worth it._

Everyone deserved to find their happy ending. And maybe, just maybe, Emma dared to think, she had just found hers.

**_Fin._**

* * *

_A/N: So this is where my tale comes to a close. I originally wrote this story to fix the unfinished business that was the death curse placed on the well and I did. It's been eradicated with the help of true love and now Swan Queen is canon. Yay! (See, was that so hard OUaT screenwriters?) _

_But quite a lot of you have expressed an interest in more Henry vs Mom(s) moments and scenes involving the townsfolk dealing with Emma and Regina as a couple. AND Cora just showed up so… yeah. Maybe one day I'll write a sequel that deals with Cora and the town full of idiots. But for now, this is where I'm going to leave my favorite ladies: at the beginning of their happy ending :)_

_A massive thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! Your support and love has been overwhelming and it means the absolute world to me. Swan Queen Nation, you are the best._

_Sincerely,_

_highheelsandchocolate_


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